


Monachopsis

by MixedKit10



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, And reincarnates as a little 10 year old girl named Lin, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ganondorf's soul is freed from Demise's Curse and becomes human again, How Do I Tag, Identity Crisis Wild Child handling a sucky life, Lin deals with the stress of remembering memories of her past life and being a hero, Link dies instead of sleeping for 100 years, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, The Calamity is its own separate being now, with Tired Gerudo Dad in tow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-24 09:36:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12010005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MixedKit10/pseuds/MixedKit10
Summary: mon·a·chop·sis/monachopsis/nounthe subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.- An AU where Link dies in the fight against The Calamity instead of sleeping for 100 years, and his soul reincarnated is left to pick up the pieces and finish the job.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, this is my first big and serious fanfic in a long time. It's based off a dream I had that I decided to develop and make into a story. Feedback and comments are highly appreciated!! There might be many changes made to chapters in the future so keep an eye out just in case.

_The sky glowed red as blood, fire, and smoke stretching to touch it from rooftops. People were seen fleeing in terror as their screams rang from every direction, the sound piercing your ears and sending cold dread deep into your bones._

**_Link_ **

_The whirring of machines pounded in your head, their otherworldly cries cutting over the cacophony of chaos the townspeople caused. Their heavy steps boomed, leaving the ground to rumble and shake like the earth was splitting apart under their great feet._

**_Link_ **

_Pain consumed every part of your body down into the depths of your soul. You clutched at your wounds, seeing the blood spread through the ragged blue shirt you wore, hands trembling as your strength quickly left you. Your vision blurred as the shadowy figures of Guardians stalked closer with their spindly legs and red eyes, all focused on you with the intent to kill. You begin to succumb to the cold darkness despite your best efforts, sinking to your knees on the blood-soaked ground and gritting your teeth. A sudden bright beam of light erupts in front of you, flooding you with warmth and chasing off the chilling murky darkness that clung to the edges of your soul. You’re filled with an emotion you cannot name as you slip away, collapsing onto the ground as the light blurs and fades away._

**_Wake up Link_ **

 

\--

 

Eyes snapping open, a child laid limp on a tree branch, staring blankly up into the swaying canopy of leaves as the lingering feeling quickly died away from her chest. She laid there for a good long moment, letting her senses wake up slowly while she gathered her wits. As the numbness of sleep left her, the aching in her back and neck flared, reprimanding her for her choice of bed. The child sat up with a groan, rubbing at her neck muscles while swinging her legs over the side to dangle off the thick branch. She glances down, content in seeing the wolf that followed her earlier in the morning had gone. What a strange creature he was, annoying but strange. With a yawn erupting from her mouth, the girl wipes sap off her hands onto her smock, straightening her clothes where it bunched up uncomfortably in her sleep. She looks over to her right, patting her knapsack bag that luckily remained on the branch with her during her nap. The girl brings a hand through her locks, only to pause.

With a grimace, she pulls a few twigs and leaves from her long hair, running her fingers through the knots and watching the sun peek through the leaves and turn its dirty blonde into a bright gold. Once she considered herself done, the girl sighs heavily and slumps over, hands on her knees as she stared down towards the dirt that circled around the tree’s roots. Blinking wearily, she watched as a mouse shot out from under a bush, searching around the thick roots before darting off. The dream returned to her as she sat in silence, a light breeze pulling strands of hair into her face and tickling her nose. The sweet voice that called to her gently echoed in her head, bringing that odd feeling back along with a phantom pain in her stomach. The child frowned and grabbed her tummy, taking deep breaths to remove the traces of hurt.

Whose voice was that? And why did she sound so…. sad? _“Link.”_ The girl blinked, eyebrows furrowed as she puzzled over the bizarre dream, kicking her legs into the air as she thought. Link? Who was Link? As far as she knew, her name was  Lin and she didn’t have any relatives who go by Link. ‘A dream is only a dream,’ her mother would say, smacking her on the arm with her spoon and glaring with that warning look. The child, Lin, rubbed absently at the bandages wrapped around her left hand, feeling a heavy sadness and hurt weigh upon her. She thinks back briefly to three days ago, when her mother shoved her out the door and demanded she never returned lest she complete the task fate set up for her. The tears in her eyes as she said those words filled Lin with a profound sense of betrayal and anger, yet the fear overcame her as she fled her home village with nothing more than the clothes on her back, her bag filled with a small supply of food and more, and a note her father apparently left behind.

She has no idea why she’s being put on this journey. Perhaps the note would explain everything, but it is addressed to the person she’s been told to deliver it to. She can only hope this ends soon, she really wants to go home.

Rubbing sleep crust from her eyes, the young girl grabbed her knapsack and wriggled her butt towards the edge of the branch. Inhaling then holding her breath, she let herself slide off, landing on her feet with a soft grunt and struggling to keep her balance for a moment after. The child arched her back and stretched, popping kinks in her back and shoulders before sighing in relief. Pulling her hair into a loose tail, Lin takes a deep breath before moving forward. She stumbles a bit on tired legs before straightening out, staring intensely through the small collection of trees as she marched towards an exit. Opening her bag, she pulls out the envelope, squinting at the name written on the front. “Impa,” she mused out loud with a small and soft voice, testing the name with different spellings before settling on the one that made the most sense to her. If only she was given even a hint of an address, finding this Impa person would be much easier…

\--

Lin knew she had spent the rest of the day wandering around aimlessly once the sky began to turn orange and the sun was touching the tree tops. Her feet ached and her arms itched, red bites dotting her skin. The blonde turned to kick at a tiny rock with a growl of frustration, watching it rise into the air and land a few feet away. This isn’t fair! She has no idea where she is, how far she’s gotten if at all, nor how far this Impa was! This was hopeless, she’ll never be able to find her way at this rate! She reached up to yank at the locks that rested against the side of her face, the pain from her scalp satisfying her irritation. Dropping her hands to her sides, Lin turned her face towards the sky, looking over every thin cloud as her mind blanked.

She stood there for quite a while, just watching the clouds slowly drift while the late day wind brought night’s chill, rising goosebumps onto her bare arms. Eventually young Lin blinked, bringing herself back to the now with a heavy sigh. Looking around, she tried to find some sort of area that could make a shelter. There were trees in the far-off distance, it would be very dark by the time she reached them. Perhaps she shouldn’t have spent that time standing here in the middle of a field.

With another more exaggerated sigh, Lin dropped her head and began to walk forward, homesickness settling like a heavy lead ball in her stomach. The stars were making their way out by the time the girl began to get even remotely close to the line of trees, an upset pout on her face as she stared towards them longingly. With her focus mostly on the distance, Lin is taken by surprise when her foot catches on something hard and brings her crashing to the ground. Her chin scrapes on the harsh ground, hissing through her teeth as a stinging blossomed. Pulling herself to her knees, she glanced over her shoulder only to pause.

She’s tripped over a little make-shift campfire.

Stones made a messy circle with slightly burnt wood piled in the middle, the wild grass cleared from the little area with no recent traces of someone being here. Relief fills her as she stood, silently giving thanks to whoever left this here as she pulled up some dry grass, taking a squat behind the stones and dropping her bag. She sets to work getting a fire started on her kindle, the instructions on how repeat in her head as she blew onto the smoking clump. It takes her third try before a flame gives way, carefully moving the kindle to the wood before waiting and watching. Once she’s comfortable knowing the fire is growing and catching the wood, Lin allows herself to relax on the ground. Opening her bag, she frowns into it, noticing her supply has begun to dwindle. She’ll have to either find Impa soon or find food. “Or starve,” she thought out loud, voice monotone as she scowled unhappily.

Slouching, the girl pulled a quarter loaf of bread and a pear from the bag. Biting into the pear immediately, she leaned forward to stick half the bread into the fire, waiting until it warmed and grew lightly toasted before pulling it back. Sticking a small piece into her mouth, Lin hummed a tune she didn’t fully remember and watched the fire’s glow. The child began trying to imagine what this Impa looked like to pass the time, amusing herself with thoughts of young strong men or ugly old ladies with rotting teeth and cheek pinching fingers. Lin is harshly removed from her imagination with the rustling of grass, loud and _very_ nearby. She pauses with her hand raised halfway to her mouth, eyes widening as fear made her tummy do flips. The rustling continues and grows louder, leaving Lin’s heart to pound hard in her chest. Two eyes catch the fire’s light and glow bright yellow, causing the girl to gasp and bolt to her feet. Her and the eyes stare at each other for a moment, each one waiting for the other to make a move. The eyes blink, become impatient and move closer. Lin tenses, grabbing up her bag and preparing herself to run. The color grey catches her eye as she watches the eyes appear with the body of a wolf, the exact same one from earlier.

She lets out a loud gasp of relief, sinking to her knees and waiting for the trembles of fear to leave her. The wolf remained at the perimeter of the campfire and the wild grass, moving to sit and wrap his tail over his feet and stare. Lin glared at the wolf, irritation returning to give her a light headache. “What do you want?” The wolf said nothing of course, staring into her blue eyes with his own, the look in them intense and honestly scaring her a bit. Stupid wolf. Lin huffed, keeping eye contact as she shoved the rest of the bread into her mouth, making her cheeks puff out like a chipmunk’s as she struggled to chew. “If you want food, I’m not sharing,” she spoke over her mouthful, words muffled and garbled. The wolf didn’t care and laid down in his spot, squeezing his eyes closed with a sigh that sounded more human than canine. Lin squinted at him in suspicion as she swallowed hard, scooting further to the left to create more space between them. “You keep to your side and I’ll keep to mine. Deal?” Wolf didn’t move, leaving the girl to shake her head and bite into her pear again. The two remained that way for the rest of the night, Lin never taking her eyes off him in fear she’d find herself attacked and ripped into bloody pieces. However, the longer she stared, the more she felt calmed and relaxed by Wolf’s presence. Despite her greatest efforts; tiredness fell upon the child, the wilderness’ breeze and the animal’s snoring pulling her into sleep.

Upon waking just before noon the next day; Lin was graced with the smoking embers of what was left of her fire, a grogginess pushing heavy on her eyes, and the spot across the campfire missing a wolf. She was almost disappointed that he wasn’t there anymore.

Almost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally chapter 2 is done! Things are finally going to kick off next chapter so be prepared! Again, feedback and comments are highly appreciated!

With the fire completely out, Lin doesn’t hesitate in heading out, soreness in her body escalating to a small pain that doesn’t give away. Finding a dirt path in her wandering lightens the blonde’s spirits, even more so when coming across a calm river a few hours into her trekking. It felt wonderful when she washed in the water; cooling her off from the heat of day, washing off the dirt and grime and numbing away the pain. Lin was in much higher spirits after that, fresh water filling the two empty bottles she carried with her. She spent an hour or two picking wild flowers she found along the way and wove them into a crown, placing it on her head before averting her attention towards finding interesting bugs.

Another two hours past, the sun set high in the sky and leaving the top of the child’s head feeling hot. The girl was slowly beginning to think she wasn’t going to find anything on this path, or that it wasn’t even a path, or that she was going the _wrong way_ on the path. However, stubbornness and a desire to see this through kept her going forward, a sturdy stick now in Lin’s possession being dragged along the ground and bumping against small rocks as she moved along. A snarl gets her attention, her ears twitching towards the spooky sound. The young girl looks over her shoulder, only to freeze in fear upon seeing a lone bokoblin moving towards her with its club drawn. Lin felt trapped despite the wide-open space, eyes wide and mouth open. Her mother screams at her in her head, making her feel 5 years old again and having ventured too far into the woods near her home. ‘There are monsters out there, monsters that will kill little girls like you! You are safe here in the village, where you will stay!’ The phantom sting of a slap on her cheek makes her wince, the first motion she’s made since spotted by the monster.

The ugly little creature snarled again as it neared closer and closer, yet Lin still couldn’t find the will to pick up her feet and run. A wheeze that meant to be a scream left her mouth as the bokoblin stepped up and swung its club at her. The child squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the hit and the burst of pain, only for a sudden feeling to erupt inside her and cause her limbs to finally move. With a quickness, she didn’t know she had, Lin dodged the blow and attacked the monster, smacking her stick onto its head as hard as she could. It screamed with pain, which motivated her into hitting it a few more times. The monster screamed one final time and fell over dead, slowly disintegrating as purply wisps left its body.

Lin felt sick to her stomach.

Staring down at its corpse, the girl backed away from the bokoblin, her grip on the stick like a vice as she fought to control her breathing. Not once had she ever killed someone, nor had she fought something truly threatening and dangerous. Yet…it felt like she had done it before. Biting hard on her bottom lip, the girl dropped the stick to hold her left hand and squeeze, scratching her nails along the top and feeling the rough bandages. Her mother would be furious if she ever learned she’s done this. A memory clawed its way to the forefront of her brain, making Lin freeze as she recalled the time when Mother caught her swinging around a training sword.

_“What have I told you about playing with weapons?! Leave fighting to the others, Lin! You are lucky enough to have many career paths open to you, yet you wish to learn the sword?” The little child flinched at the sharp tone, dropping the wooden sword she carried like it was hot iron. Her mother sneered, blue eyes piercing like ice. “You are very much aware what being a swordsman is like: it’s practically deciding your death. You’ll die on the battlefield like your father. I won’t allow it, while you live under my roof you **will not ever** pick up a sword or any other fighting weapon. Do I make myself clear?” _

_Mother darted forward to jab her fingers like claws into Lin’s shoulders, making the child flinch again and whimper, bottom lip wobbling as tears began in her eyes. Her left hand was grabbed and squeezed painfully, those terrifying eyes coming close to her face and turning her blood cold. “That mark on your hand is just that. A mark. It doesn’t mean anything, no matter what anyone says. Besides, girls don’t fight with swords,” Mother sniffed and stood upright, turning her face away with disgust. “You’d never fit in amongst the men. If I ever find out you act out in such an unbecoming way, you will be punished. Keep this in mind the next time you want to go out and play **hero**.” _

Lin gasped for air, grabbing her unruly blonde hair and tugging harshly. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought against the anxiety pilling up in her chest. She didn’t mean to kill the bokoblin, she didn’t do it on purpose, it just happened! Surely her mother wouldn’t be disappointed if she knew that it was self-defense, right? She isn’t playing hero, there’s nothing heroic about self-protection.

The thought helped the child calm down, eventually removing her hands from her hair and feeling the squeezing tightness around her heart leave. Sniffling, the girl blinked in surprise when realizing her cheeks were wet with a few stray tears. Grunting unhappily, she wiped them away with her shirt and reached down to pick up her stick. Exhaling slowly, Lin turned her attention back to the almost fully decayed bokoblin and stared. Instead of anxiety, this time the little Hylian felt numb. Fixing the crown of flowers on her head; Lin stumbled back, turned around, and kept walking along the path, feeling even worse than before.

\--

A long moment later the girl was covered in scrapes and cuts, seen scrambling up a rather tall cluster of rocks. Her goal was to reach the top and scan her surroundings, maybe figure out where the path leads to and hopefully find a friendly little village nearby. After having fallen about three times, Lin finally pulled herself up, groaning with strain as her muscles gave out just as she reached the surface. Rolling over, she laid on her back and tried to catch her breath, eyes squinted as the sun beamed down onto her face. “Victory,” She wheezed out, raising both fists towards the sky in celebration before dropping her arms back down like dead weight.

Lin stayed down longer than she planned, feeling the minute breeze ruffle her yellow hair and make strands of it stick to her mouth. Fatigue weighed on her heavily now that she had gone still, and a nap slowly began to close in on her. It was moments like this where she could pretend that everything was wonderful and normal and everything bad didn’t exist. That she was back in Hateno Village, that her mother didn’t hate her and her father was still alive and she didn’t feel like something important was missing from her life. That last thought interrupts her serenity, causing the girl to pout unhappily and open her eyes. However, before she could even begin to think more on the topic, the sound of a cart approaching filled her ears, making Lin jump up onto her feet. Staring out, straight ahead she spotted a horse pulling a cart, the scruffy man steering it whistling a fast-paced melody. Hope and a great rush of excitement flared in her chest, making Lin squeal and rush forward- only to shriek in fear when realizing her impulsive move had her jump off the large rock. This was a decision poorly calculated.

The child landed on her feet, immediately flopping over onto the ground as her legs gave out. Spitting grass out of her mouth, the girl scrambled quickly to her feet again, turning around the rock to see the man and horse even closer than before. Yes! Now she can get some help regarding this stupid letter! Moving into the center of the road, Lin began to hop in place, waving her arms as she tried to gain the man’s attention. “Stop!” The cart moved up to her before slowly pulling to a stop, the horse giving an irritated snort. Lin hurried closer, eyes darting back and forth between man and animal as she immediately decided she wanted to pet the horse, making that one of her end goals in this confrontation.

“Well howdy there, little miss! What’s got ya jumpin’ around like there’re ants in your pants?” Lin’s confidence melted away as she felt her ears and cheeks flush pink, chin tucked down as she stuttered on her words. “I-I have this letter I need to give to someone, and I was hopin’ you could help me find them? Uhm, also, might I be allowed to pet your horse?” The man leaned forward and grinned, patting the horse on the neck. “Go right ahead! Walnut’s a friendly fellow, ‘specially towards the young ones.”

A wide grin spread onto Lin’s face as she moved to the front, reaching out her good hand for the horse to nuzzle before she began to pet him. Brushing her hand up and down the white stripe on his snout, Lin cooed softly to the stallion who snorted happily in return. The gentleman chuckled, allowing the girl to pet the horse for as long as she liked. “So, ya said you were lookin’ for someone,” He asked, causing the child to stop nuzzling her cheek against the creature’s nose and look up.

“Impa.” The man squinted his eyes, tilting his head back and scratching the fuzz on his chin. “Impa…yeah I’ve heard that name before. Only briefly however.” Lin hummed, letting the man take his time in figuring it out, keeping from worrying by distracting herself with Walnut. She snuck a half slice of apple to the cheerful horse when the man gasped, causing her to jolt and nearly drop the treat. “You’re lookin’ for Kakariko Village! Why, that’s just straight a’ ways, little miss! Pretty much found it on yer own, ya did!” Lin looked up from the horse, smiling towards the polite gentleman. “Thank you, sir,” she murmured quietly, giving Walnut a silent goodbye before backing away. The traveler nodded to her, giving a wave of goodbye before ushering the hesitant stallion onwards. The little blonde closed her eyes, inhaling the sweet wild air into her nostrils as excitement tingled under her skin, the kind that comes when you are near completing a long tiring task. Turning on her heels, Lin darted forward with a new burst of energy, boots stomping into the soft dirt road as she ran straight ahead. The child stretched her arms out by her sides, pretending to be like the birds that soared in the sky above her. Sooner than later the sounds of music reached her ears through the wind, faint but quickly approaching with each stride she made. Making her way over a hill, the child paused as the small town came into view, a sense of awe filling her lungs as she watched the busy but peaceful village folk go about their day. Lin hopped from foot to foot, a delighted giggle pulling itself from her throat as she rushed down the hill through the entrance way.

Coming to a stop, she looked around with curiosity piqued, chest burning as she tried to catch her breath. The first thing she immediately noticed was that most of the people had hair that was purely white, a feature she didn’t know was possible in anyone but elderly people. Brushing her messy bangs out of her face, Lin bit her bottom lip and glanced around, uncertainty leaving her rooted where she stood. “Are you alright?” She jumped in surprise from the sudden voice sounding behind her. Quickly turning around, Lin blinked nervously up at a young woman, a curious look on her face. Lin opened and closed her mouth, floundering for words as her cheeks turned warm again. The woman smiled patiently, bending down a bit to be more at level with the child. “What is your name, cutie?” “L-Lin,” the little girl replied with, face burning hotter by the pet name. “Lin? Nice to meet you, I’m Lasli. Are you here with your parents?” Lin shook her head. “I’m here by myself, got a letter for, uhm, f-for a person named Impa?”

Lasli blinked in surprise, standing back up. “Impa, huh? That’s odd, Lady Impa doesn’t really get letters anymore. What did you say your name was again?”

"It's Lin."

“Right right, Lin. Well her home is right behind you, just do an about turn, walk up the steps and open the door! She’ll be right there and willing to talk to you. Also, if you plan on staying for a while, there’s beds available at Shuteye Inn. I’ll let Ollie know about you so you won’t have to worry about paying.” Lin huffed in relief and smiled thankfully up at the older girl. “Thank you,” she mumbled, receiving a kind smile in return. “You’re welcome, cutie~”

Lin turned around to stare up at the house, aware of the two men standing outside the little arch that lead to the stairs. Those were guardsmen. Wow, this person must be very important then. Why did her father leave a letter for this Lady Impa? She didn’t get to spend much time with her papa, but she never once heard him talk about Impa before, how does he know her? As the child stood and stared, anxiety crept up on her, taking sieze of her chest again. Her legs felt heavy as stone, unable to move closer to the house. One of the men took note of her staring, squinting his eyes in confusion at her. Lin adverted her gaze, tucking her chin to stare down at the dirt. She thinks she’ll wait a bit before going to see Impa, spend a little time in Kakariko first. With this thought, Lin turned and walked away from the house, hoping to find out which building was Shuteye Inn and crawl into a nice bed to get some rest.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get the part with Impa done and over with in one chapter, which resulted in this chapter being really freaking long. Whoops. At least we're finally getting to the adventure part of the story now! As always, feedback is highly appreciated!!

Sleeping in a bed after almost a month on the road is bliss, to the point where Lin slept deep enough to pass up the usual bizarre dream. She awoke groggy with knotted hair and dried drool on her chin. The child slumped out of the bed, grabbing up her stuff as she waddled out of the Inn. After waving a good morning and goodbye to innkeeper, she stepped out into the cool morning air of Kakariko, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and watching the early birds go about their business. Lin yawns, stomping down the steps to sit on the grass outside and get her bearings. Dropping her knapsack on her lap, she fishes out the last of her food supply, a single bruised pear. Staring at it in dismay, Lin silently cursed herself for eating all the bread the other day.

Grimacing unhappily, she bit into the pear and looked around, feeling relaxed by how peaceful the village was. Her attention turns to the large house with the steps, and immediately that feeling is replaced with anxiety. She can’t put off her task any longer, she must go up and speak to Impa. Forcing herself to eat a few more bites, Lin then throws away the pear and frowns at the grumbling her stomach makes in protest. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she stands and starts marching towards Impa’s house, throwing her chin up and pretending to herself that she was feeling brave and determined now. She only takes a few steps when loud clucking throws her off guard, blurs of white and green fluttering past her making the young girl flinch and squeal in surprise.

An old man, one that she recognized as one of the guards from yesterday, flails his arms angrily at the sky. “No no no! Son of a” He notices Lin standing there and pauses, “-a cracker.” Lin stares wide eyed at the man, knowing full well what he was about to say, causing him to grin awkwardly at the child. The girl looks around, heart still pounding from the scare and scoots a bit closer to the guard man. “W-What just happened?”

The man sighs heavily and looks out at the village, pure despair darkening his face. “My precious cuccos…they fled from their coop again. I hate when they do that, it frightens me so badly, especially since I have such a hard time catching them. I fear they’ll never come home when they’re all I have left…” He trailed off, looking almost ready to cry before dropping his head into his hands. Lin took an awkward step back from the man, looking at him oddly as he whined. What a weird guy. She understands having an emotional attachment to your farm animals, but he…seems to take it a step further. _Really_ weird. But she also feels kinda bad for him. Poor cucco guy.

Sighing through her nose, Lin scooted closer and smiled up to the man. “Uhm. I can go catch them for you, i-if you’re so worried about them.” The man raised his head, looking down hopefully at the little girl. “You would? Oh, thank you so much! There’s only ten of them, so it shouldn’t be too hard, especially for a youngster like you.” Lin nodded, pleased to help the man, and turned away, squinting as she scanned the area for any of the birds. She’s definitely _not_ doing this because she’s avoiding the Impa crisis. Definitely not.

\--

Dawn had long since passed once Lin finally wrangled up all the cuccos, gripping her purple rupee with a beaming smile. She has money now, she can go _buy stuff_. How much is a purple rupee worth again? She can’t remember quite well. Lin spends the next half hour roaming the village, peeking into shops and seeing if she can buy anything with her single rupee, but always found herself too nervous to go up and talk to one of the shopkeepers. In the end of her exploring, the little girl had a big supply of apples picked from a few trees she’s found, munching on one and feeling pleased with the weight of them sitting in her bag. As she chews, she returns to where the Goddess Statue sits in the town, staring it down with warry curiosity. Lin remembers her mother throwing out all objects related to the Goddesses and praying in general after _The Thing_ , screaming about throwing away petty worship over deities that are cruel and unkind. In later years, Mother even started denying the existence of the goddesses.

Lin felt her heart drop into her stomach, good mood instantly ruined when she reminded herself about _The Thing_ , the taste of apple in her mouth turning sour and causing her to spit out the half-chewed chunks. The child quickly turned away from the statue, moving to drop the barely eaten fruit in disgust; until she notices the peculiar stones lining the fence. Lin’s attention fully turns to them, forgetting her unhappiness with the past, and peers down at intriguing carvings on the stones, a sense of déjà vu coming upon her. The eye of the Sheikah the same symbol she’s been seeing around town. That could be why it’s so familiar. What is the point of this symbol though, is it a cultural thing? However, as she continued to stare, that weird feeling of familiarity grew stronger, making her stomach churn with unease. The eye is creepy looking.

Lin looks down at the small bowls sitting in front of each statue, noticing there were apples in every bowl, save for one. The girl blinked, looking from the apple in her hand to the empty bowl, then back. Well, she didn’t want this anymore, anyways. Glancing up to make sure no one was watching; Lin stepped up and dropped the apple into the bowl, frowning in dis-contempt as it landed bitten-side up. It doesn’t match with the rest of the apples, which she childishly grew upset over.

Before she could replace it with a new apple, a puff of green smoke appeared before her face with a pop and a jingle.

“YAHAHA! YOU FOUND ME!~”

Lin screamed in surprised fear, falling back onto her rump after her legs failed to work properly, scrambling away from the statues almost comically. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears while she felt it thud hard in her chest. Things in this village keep startling her and it’s getting _really_ annoying now! The little girl made sure there was distance between herself and the thing that jumped out at her before she finally peeked out from behind her hands. A…..creature… _thing_ …stood on the ground, reaching up to her waist in height, holding a leafy twig with red berries. It looked like a fat tiny branch with stubby arms and legs and a leaf on its face. **What the hell is this thing**. The twig creature bounced in excitement, its body making that same jingly noise, before it suddenly stopped and looked up curiously at the child.

“Huh? You’re not Hestu!” It exclaimed, jiggling a bit closer, and making Lin crawl back. Her eyes burned with the need to blink, but she couldn’t stop staring at the creature, mouth clenched shut as a confused noise left her throat. The scent of pine and oak along with a minty flowery smell surrounded Lin, making her nostrils tingle and goosebumps raise on her arms. There was an odd…light fuzzy feeling…to the twig being, one that started bringing back that familiar sensation. The creature leaned side to side, a hum leaving its weird leaf face. “But you can see me! I didn’t know your kind could see the children of the forest!” It began to bounce in excitement again, waving its berry twig happily.

The creature then bounced up to Lin, placing a tiny yellow seed in her hand. “Well, if you run into Hestu, please return this to him. And feel free to poke around other suspicious places too, my friends are hiding around many different places!~”

Lin quietly nodded, slowly standing up and stepping away from the happy creature. She pursed her lips, looking at the seed while trying to figure out what exactly just happened. Deciding to not question it, Lin curiously brought the seed up to her nose, taking a whiff. The minty pine smell was strong, making the nose tingling grow into an itch. The girl dropped the seed into her bag after sneezing, shaking off the weird feeling that creature gave her. _Korok,_ came loudly to the front of her brain, and for a reason Lin didn’t know, somehow understood that was what that forest creature was.

\--

People are staring. They must be staring by this point, she’s been standing there for so long her feet must be glued to the ground. The child stood outside the big house, a few feet in front of the men guarding the stairs. She doesn’t know how long she’s been trying to convince herself to walk up to them, to finish what she set out on this journey for, but her nervous thoughts kept over powering her weak attempts at encouragement. Lin’s gaze turns to the two men standing just in front of the steps, hardened attentive looks in their eyes. They must take their jobs very seriously to stand there all day. “Don’t be such a baby, just go in,” she hissed to herself, fingers scratching at the dirty wrappings on her left hand, arm twitching at the sharp pain that flared when her nails managed to cause friction. Her fingers focused on that area on the back of her hand, the pain bringing a dirty kind of relief that soothed her anxiety in an unhealthy way. Lin blinked, noticing the guard she was watching was aware of her staring. She flinched back, dropping her gaze to the ground. The panic spiked, making her stomach do flips and bring nausea to sit uncomfortably in the back of her throat. There’s nothing to be afraid of, idiot. Just march up and hand them the letter. Do it. Lin pressed her nails hard into her hand, breath wavering as the pain began to linger.  Do it, just do it. Do it, you stupid piece of-

“Can I help you?” The sudden voice of a man has Lin jumping, gasping in surprise as she was jolted out of her darkening thoughts. She looks up fearfully to see the guardsman had stepped forward from his post to attend to her. Shame and guilt made the girl’s cheeks warm, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Lin cursed her troubles with speaking up, self-hatred burning hot in her stomach and in her eyes as she averted her gaze. The man crouched down to smile kindly up at her, eyebrows knitted as worry flashed in his eyes. “It’s okay sweetie, no need to be afraid. Is there something you need? I might be able to help you.” The girl blinked quickly, taking a deep breath as the man’s tenderness brought a soft fluffy calmness to her. She let go of her hand to reach into her bag and pull out the white envelope, licking her lips as the words sat heavy on the tip of her tongue.

“I have this. To give to Impa.” Her voice shook as she spoke along with her hands and knees. The guard gently turned the letter to look at what was written on the front of it before clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I see. Do you know what this letter might be about?” Lin shook her head no, which was the truth. “It was written by my father, and that it’s addressed to Impa. That’s all I know.” The guard stood up and nodded, a smile returning to his face.

“Alright then. Just head on up the stairs and enter through the doors, Lady Impa will be right there. She’s a very kind woman, you don’t have to be nervous. What’s your name, dear?”

“L-Lin.”

“Lin. I’m Dorian. I’ll almost always be standing guard here, so if you need any help with anything else just come to me, ok?” Lin only nodded, managing to not flinch back when Dorian gently patted her head. With the guardsman’s permission, and a bit of reassurance that she’ll be alright, the little girl began to slowly walk up the stairs, grabbing the railing to keep herself steady. She forced herself to look straight ahead, attempting to steel herself with determination. Lin ignored the older girl scrubbing the floor, knowing she’d lose confidence if she lingered. A gasp came from said girl as she moved past her, pressing her hands against the two wooden doors and pushing it open.

\--

It was a lot darker inside than she expected, causing the child to blink and adjust to the change. Moving further into the home, Lin felt a good chunk of her anxiety chip off, feeling even a hint of amusement at how it so easily dissipated. Across the room, sitting on three pillows was a tiny lady, a big straw hat sitting on her head. Lin wondered briefly how she could balance it on her head, it looked so big. Stepping closer to where the woman sat, the girl immediately felt bad about all those ugly old lady thoughts. The woman looked down to the child, her eyes bright with life and wisdom despite her age.“Well, hello there little one,” Impa greeted cheerfully, shifting a bit to get more comfortable. Lin quickly tucked her chin, feeling shy and embarrassed over her previous worries. She peeked up from behind her bangs, toying with the corners of the envelope she still held in her hands. “Are you Impa?” She choked out, her cheeks already feeling flushed at her slip up. She already knew this was Impa, why even bother asking! The woman nodded, a smile on her face. “Indeed I am. What is it you wish to tell me?”

Lin stuck out the letter with trembling hands, remaining silent as the lady gently plucked it from her fingers. “For me?” She mused thoughtfully, eyes squinting at the words written on the front of it. The child nodded, hands finding her bag to fumble with. “Y-Yes. I’ve been sent by my mother to give it to you. It was written by m-my father. Before he died.” Lady Impa hummed, opening the envelope quickly to pull out the pages held within. Lin stood there silently as the woman read the letter, shifting restlessly as curiosity ate at her. What was it her father had failed to tell the Lady before his passing? How did Impa even know her dad? The squeak of the doors opening caught Lin’s attention, turning to watch the girl from outside step in tentatively. She looked just as flustered as Lin was just a moment ago, quickly making her way over to beside Lady Impa before kneeling to start scrubbing the floor. The child watched her for a moment before the ruffling of paper returned her focus to the Sheikah woman.

The girl was immediately taken aback when she caught Impa staring at her, tears falling down her cheeks. The look she was giving Lin was flooded with emotion, leaving her feeling uncomfortable and almost out of place. A shivering sigh left the old woman’s trembling mouth as she moved rather quickly off the pillow mound. The girl who was cleaning looked up, only to quickly jump to her feet in surprise. “Grandmother?!” She called in worried confusion, reaching out uselessly as if to help her. Lin tensed as Lady Impa walked up to her, about the same height as her, and looked her over with that same look on her face. Slowly Impa reached out, her wrinkled hands grabbing both sides of Lin’s face and gently examining her. The uncomfortable feeling increased as the elderly woman let out a sob and removed her hands, the child still feeling confused and unsure of what was happening. “This makes no sense. We got him to the shrine in time. It just makes no sense,” Impa mumbled out sorrowfully, shaking her head and sniffling.

“W-What’s wrong, m-ma’am?” Lin stuttered out, voice quiet and afraid as she watched the old lady continue to cry. What did her father write to Impa that made her so upset? Impa looked back to the blonde child with a sad smile, reaching out to gently rest her hands-on Lin’s arms. “Dear Lin, my poor sweet child. I must ask you, and this is a rather important question; have you noticed a yellow triangle marked somewhere on your skin?”

Lin felt her blood turn to ice.

She tensed, eyes widening as she stared at Impa’s now serious expression, feeling cold dread and fear crawl up her spine and make her shiver. Memories she hid away in the farthest reaches of her mind sprung to the forefront of her brain, clawing at all the hurts in her heart and emotions. The one that held the sharpest nails was the memory of _The Thing,_ which was exactly what Lady Impa was referring to. Anxiety approached Lin again, this time uglier and stickier, imbedding itself deep inside her chest and compressing her lungs. Instinctively she grabbed her left hand, hugging it to herself as it grew harder to breathe. Impa caught the motion, eyes fixing on the bandaging wrapped around her hand before she looked back to the child, eyes darkening. “May I look, dear? You’re in need of a change of dressings after all.” The words just managed to reach Lin’s ears, a pitiful whimper loudly leaving her lips when Impa’s gentle hands grabbed hers. The child flinched violently, shoulders hunching as her muscles tensed, ready to bolt away from the promise of injury. Visions of _The Thing_ flashed in her mind’s eye, and Lin was on full course towards a panic attack.

Impa’s mouth moved quickly, the tone of her voice low and calm, but the words didn’t register, her ears beginning to roar with silent noise as she desperately tried to suck air into her lungs. Impa’s granddaughter walked forward, holding a roll of fresh gauze, her worried and fearful wide brown eyes glued onto the troubled little Hylian. Fresh air touched the sensitive skin of her hand, causing Lin to look down and flinch again. Impa’s hand hovered over Lin’s, hesitating to touch the ragged burn scars that covered part of the back of her hand, which then wraps around to the edges of her palm. A yellow triangle- no, the _Triforce_ , barely peeked out from under the darkened skin. The granddaughter gasped, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. Lady Impa closed her eyes momentarily before reaching out to grab the gauze and wrap it around the wound.

Lin was wheezing, tears blurring her vision as they fell quickly down her cheeks, barely feeling the bandages tighten and stay in place on her hand. Strong arms pulled her into a warm body, the child following blindly as she fought to breathe and will away the visions. Squeezing her eyes shut, the girl pressed more into the comforting hold of Impa and followed her instructions on breathing slowly. It took a solid 3 minutes for the child to calm down and the horrid memory to remove its hold on the poor girl.

\--

“Are you feeling better now?” Lin nodded, looking up to Impa who has returned to her cushioned seat. “Y-Yes. Thank you, ma’am.” The Sheikah woman shook her head, a gentle smile back on her face. “No need to call me by such formalities, Impa is just fine.” Lin nodded again. The woman sighed heavily, her light demeanor turning serious again. The child tensed, readying herself for what it is she has to say.

“I need you to listen to me, Lin, it is very important that you do. For what I’m about to tell you will not be easy on you, but believe me when I say it if the full truth.” Impa paused before continuing.

“A hundred years ago the kingdom of Hyrule was destroyed. Calamity Ganon returned to wreak havoc on the world, taking the control of the Divine Beasts and Guardians from us. The four champions who controlled the Divine Beasts lost their lives trying to fight for the sake of the kingdom. The final champion, the Hylian Champion, was named Link. He was Princess Zelda’s appointed knight and the hero chosen by the Master Sword.”

Lin was frozen, unable to move even an inch as her head throbbed with a quickly approaching headache. Why….why does this sound… _familiar_?

_The sky glowed red as blood. The whirring of machines pounded in her head. Pain consumed every part of her body._

**….No.**

“Link fought hard against the enemies to protect the princess, but ended up gravely wounded. After he fell, Princess Zelda’s final wish was to place the knight in a sacred chamber known as the Shrine of Resurrection. And then…the princess went to face Ganon. Alone.”

_A sudden beam of light. Warm arms. Sorrowful sea green eyes. “You’re going to be just fine.”_

Lin hissed through her teeth, grabbing at her hair as the pain in her head intensified. No no no no. This can’t be happening, can’t be real. Impa watched her with pity, yet continued to speak.

“For 100 years I’ve sat here and waited for Link to awaken from the Shrine of Resurrection, to awaken and rescue Lady Zelda, and Hyrule, from Calamity Ganon. However, Link won’t ever wake up, because even he did not survive that dreadful night a hundred years ago. Master Link has been dead for a hundred years, his body sitting in the chamber untouched.”

“No,” the child whimpered, taking a step back as intense emotion threatened to burst her heart, whole body trembling as her brain seemed ready to collapse on itself. Pain began to blossom on the left side of her torso, an echo of an injury that didn’t scar her body.

“I tell you this, dear child, because Master Link had a birthmark on his left hand. The birthmark was the Triforce, a symbol held dear in Hyrule that is related to the Goddess Hylia. This same birthmark is on your hand. Your left hand.”

“No!”

**Open your eyes. Wake up Link.**

“Lin. My dearest. I believe, your father believed, that you are Master Link reborn. The ancient soul of the hero is inside you, dear. You are the newest Hero reincarnated.”

“NO!” Lin screamed as loud as she could, hands shooting up to press hard on her ears and block out the words that were rapidly tearing her life apart. Anguish and despair flooded every part of her, too big and too strong for her small lithe body. Never has she felt something so dreadful, the intense emotions of a life that wasn’t hers. Love, fear, anger, hope, and every emotion in-between. It feels unreal, like it doesn’t belong in her heart. Yet at the same time it feels perfect and natural, like it was always a part of her. Lin thought back to that empty feeling she would always have time to time, that feeling like a piece of her was missing. Now it feels like that piece has been filled in, if only by a little, and it makes Lin decide that she’d prefer emptiness to this any day.

Overwhelmed by everything happening to quickly with too much, the young girl turns on her heel and dashes out of the house, ignoring Impa’s call of her name, along with Dorian’s. Tears burned hot in Lin’s eyes and down her cheeks, the child sprinting full speed towards the exit of Kakariko village. She threw her bag to the ground to get rid of extra weight and kept running, not bothering to care where her legs took her, only that they carried her far away from Impa and the Sheikah. Far away from the blonde-haired girl with the sad green eyes; the image of her sitting under a tree, clean and dressed in blue, Lin’s head in her lap with fingers running through her long hair, the sweetest most beautiful voice singing a soft slow song that flooded Lin with an intense overwhelming amount of love.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! This took FOREVER, I'm so sorry! Writer's block hit me in the ass and it took way too long to type out this chapter. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things, but for now have this little make up for it gift! 
> 
> http://mixedkit10.tumblr.com/post/168442813762/heres-lin-the-precious-lil-bab-in-my-breath-of 
> 
> It's a picture of Lin I drew! It's what her general outfit is now beginning in this chapter.
> 
> This is the chapter where things REALLY start getting crazy. Now the fun stuff truly begins! Poor Lin though. Sister figure Paya ftw.

Paya walked out of the village, a bowl of soup in hand as she looked from the setting sun to the small collection of trees right outside of the village entrance. Straining her ears and waiting with patient silence, the sound of a rock hitting wood echoing out reached her. With a sigh, she headed in that direction, soon enough finding a very upset child standing on a large rock while throwing tiny stones against trees. Her hair was a mess, there were dirt stains on her shirt, and there were tear streaks on her face. She pitied poor Lin very much. Clearing her throat to gain her attention, Paya walked forward and smiled politely, nervousness settling deep in her stomach.

Lin looked over and blinked, watching the girl pause and fidget nervously mustering up the courage to finally say “M-May I sit here?” The child squinted at the sheikah girl, hesitating before giving a curt nod. Paya smiled thankfully and took a seat next to the little Hylian. Silence grew between them other than the sounds of the birds and bugs and the little rocks hitting the bark of the single tree Lin was abusing. After too much of the quiet, the child turned to face the older girl, stomping her foot at her. “I’m Lin,” she declared, before folding her arms. Paya smiled and extended the bowl to her. “I know.” The girl hesitated before taking it. It was still the tiniest bit warm, and gave comfort to her sore scrapped up hands. Slowly Lin sat down next to Paya, glancing up at the teen. She had her eyes closed, face towards the orange glow of remaining sunlight. Lin decided she liked her, she wasn’t as mean and persistent as Impa. “Even though it’s similar to...Link…I’m still Lin.” Paya nodded, yet didn’t open her eyes. “And even though my name is similar to Papaya, it’s still just Paya.”

A giggle slipped from the girl before she looked away, shoving spoonfuls of soup into her mouth. She finishes quickly and hands the bowl back, finally giving a smile while thanking the other for the food. Paya took the bowl before sighing. “I-I’m sorry grandmother was like that. It’s just that…she was very fond of the Champions when she was younger, especially the Princess. She would talk endlessly about her and her knight as I was growing up, telling stories of their adventures and how everything ended. S-So when the slightest chance of saving her approaches, she tries as hard as possible to make it happen. L-Link is supposed to be just asleep up in the Great Plateau, this task wasn’t supposed to be given to you Lin.”

Lin looked at Paya, feeling the anger inside melt a little. Her lip wobbled as she scooted closer, feeling the other girl’s presence give a sort of comfort no other has given before. “Fuzzy images of a girl with yellow hair keeps popping into my head. She’s always sad or angry when I manage to see her face. Then my head starts hurting.” An arm wrapped around her small frame, pulling her closer to feel the other’s warmth. “For some reason…you might have access to Link’s memories. Not all of them, it may seem, but enough to prove your connection. I’m sorry, Lin, but I-I don’t think you’ll be able to run from this.”

The tears began to fall again, the little girl turning to hide her face into Paya’s side, holding in the sobs as she hid in the girl’s soft gentle arms. “It’s not fair,” she whimpered out, the thought screaming repeatedly in her head as fear dug in deep within her bones.

\--

It was a bit chilly this morning, the air crisp enough to leave Lin shivering a bit, rubbing the goosebumps away from her arms and knees. She denied repeatedly the offer to sleep in Impa’s home, wanting nothing to do with the old lady who’s forcing her to become what she generally isn’t allowed to be. Instead she stayed at the Inn again, where thankfully the innkeeper gave her an extra blanket to cocoon into. She even said a firm no to re-entering the home when Dorian came to get her. Now, Lin stands outside, still holding stubbornly to her decision, and waiting for Paya to come out with the bad news.

And return Paya did, holding breakfast and a big bundle of stuff under her arm. She appeared to be struggling, in which Lin hurried over to help. They sat together on the steps, switching what they held so Lin could begin to consume the very warm very nice smelling food and Paya could hold onto the bundle. The meal was gone quick, much to Lin’s dismay, especially when she was denied seconds. “Don’t worry, you’ll feel fuller in a while, give it time. Stand up, I want to show you something.” The child shot up onto her feet, blue eyes wide with curiosity. Paya unfolded the blue fabric, revealing it to be a long light blue tunic. It was tattered on its sleeves and the bottom had a bit of it burned off, but it was still in good shape. A weird feeling settled in Lin’s stomach as she stared at it. “I want to put it on,” she blurted out, unsure if it was because she thought it looked cool or cause she had to. The Sheikah girl giggled, gladly handed the tunic to her, helping Lin when she struggled to fix it. The deep cut neck of the shirt hung low on her tiny body, enough to reveal both shoulders. Looking down, the little Hylian noticed that it fit her like a dress, ending just above her knees. She gave an experimental twirl, watching it flare out. It was nice, she liked it.

“It’s called the Champion’s Tunic. It was worn by the hero 100 years ago. Personally, I don’t think you need to wear it, but G-Grandmother told me to give it to you.” Lin hummed, deciding not to care this time as she continued to twirl. Doesn’t matter who it belonged to before, it’s hers now. “Now comes the very important part,” Paya grabbed the child by her shoulders to stop her from spinning, making her face her. Paya then presented her with the odd rectangular thing. It had the eye symbol on it along with other glowy things. “This is the Sheikah Slate, or well…a knock off version made by my great aunt. It’ll help you access the chamber to get the real slate. It is crucial you get it for the, uhm, upcoming journey.”

Lin’s face fell, and she cringed away. Paya frowned nervously. “I-I’m sorry! Truly, I am! But if you don’t do this the C-Calamity will surely take over what’s left of Hyrule! I know you’re upset, a-and I’m upset that we have to throw a child into severe battle but. We need you.” Lin stared at Paya, watching her face as her brown eyes pleaded, fear embedded deep within. She imagines the whispy purple stuff at the ruined castle spreading out and eating everything, enveloping the sun and casting the world into a forever darkness. The mental images prompted Lin to shiver. “I’ll try,” she said in a quiet scared voice. Paya kissed her forehead before pulling the girl into a hug.

The belt that held the slate was wrapped around her tummy, too big to sit on her skinny hips. Putting the sheikah object in its case, she stood back and looked up at her friend for approval. Paya smiled and handed her the vial. “Here, this is a hasty elixir. It will give you more strength to climb up, but only take it once you’re at the base of the plateau. I-I snuck another one in your inventory, a feature of the slate. It’s connected to the little bag attached to your belt and can be accessed through the inventory menus on the sheikah slate. Clothing, weapons, food, and other things can be accessed, no matter size or weight. Y-You’ll be able to transfer it all to the real Sheikah Slate once you obtain it, so no worries. There is a limit on space though.”

There is a pause as the two girls look at each other, an uncomfortable silence spreading between them. “I’ll be back soon,” Lin said eventually, voice as hollow as she felt. They hugged one last time before Lin turned to quickly walk past Paya, hurrying out of Kakariko village as the townsfolk yelled their goodbyes and good-lucks. She ignored them all as she marched out to the dirt road and checked the map on the sheikah slate. Ok. She can do this.

\--

She cannot believe she’s going to do this. Standing at the bottom, Lin’s neck hurt from how far back she had to tilt her head to try and see the top of the cliff. “They…expect me to climb THIS?!” Despite all the what ifs and maybes, a strong surge of energy buzzed underneath the child’s skin, a result of her carrot filled breakfast.

Lin tapped the elixir image in on the sheikah slate and felt a heavy weight appear in her pocket. Pulling out the bottle, she examined it before grimacing and popped the cork. Taking a sniff of the bottle’s contents, the girl fought not to gag. It smelled _awful_. Taking a deep breath, and steeling herself for the soon to come awful taste, Lin squeezed her eyes shut and promptly downed the bottle. She choked and coughed after swallowing the thick liquid, face scrunching up in displeasure at the strong taste the potion had. After a few moments of waiting, the feeling she had grew stronger, filling the young Hylian with intense amount of energy. Enough to run for days, swim for miles upon miles. Lin looked up towards the ruins of the Great Plateau with a new fierce determination. Like she could climb a very big cliff. Taking a deep breath, Lin took a few steps back before running towards the rock wall and jumping. She grabbed onto edges jutting out and begun her climb, grinning wide with excitement. Not many kids will be able to tell a tale like this, especially one like her! All the children back at home will be surprised to learn that quiet little Lin did this!

It feels like hours when Lin is more than halfway through her climb, and although she’s drenched with sweat and almost all the muscles in her body burn with the extreme exertion- she still feels full of energy and able to keep going. Her breathing gets a bit harsher as she reaches higher levels her body isn’t used to, but the child struggles through it with her goal one of the only things in mind. The other thought is how _hungry and tired_ she’s going to be after she reaches the top and the potion wears out, and is so glad to have a sack full of needed supply for this journey within a journey.

Finally, the child reaches the top of the cliff, pulling herself up and over with trembling arms and legs before collapsing onto the dirt with a loud gasp. She lies there gasping and trying to relax her arms and legs despite the buzzing under her skin. This is a curse and a blessing, Lin thinks grimly as she stands back up and pulls out the fake sheikah slate and squint at the map. Straight ahead, it says. Once she gets through all the forestation and what-not then sure! Lin tenses and swipes to the inventory menu to examine her wares. She feels a discomfort form in the pit of her stomach as the weapons section holds a few items.

Her gaze lands on the small sword she’s been given and felt the ball of lead in her tummy grow heavier. Swallowing against a lump in her throat, Lin chose a bow and felt the bow and quiver’s weight on her back. She recalls the many times she went hunting and felt the horrible feeling melt away. This is much more comfortable. She grabbed the bow and knocked an arrow, pulling it back. She shot straight into the cluster of trees and shrubs and grins when it hit straight into a tree’s bark. It was perfect size and weight for her, meaning she can show off her archery skill to no one in particular. She makes a mental note to thank Paya later when they see each other again.

Gripping her bow tighter, Lin raised her head, took in a big gulp of air, and began marching forward. Maybe…Maybe this Link is still alive? Or he’s like…half dead, and when she reaches him whatever’s in her returns back to him and he’ll wake up and go do the princess saving ordeal that those crazy adults expect a 10-year-old to do? That…that would be nice, despite the impossibility.

\--

She resting to eat a fruit dish Paya also snuck into her inventory, eyes closed in delight as the plate of food was still warm. She could get used to this storage thingie this Sheikah Slate has. Lin swings her legs, sitting high up in a tree, again, and enjoying her food. The hasty elixir has long since worn off, and after a nice power nap, she woke up with a loud growling in her stomach. Two mushroom skewers later, she’s enjoying a sunny afternoon in the shade, watching squirrels and lizards and deer wander around their home with no worries. Sometimes when a trailing deer came close enough, she’d throw down little bites for it to eat up.

Closing her eyes, Lin let the sound of rustling leaves fill her ears and head, the relaxation that came with letting herself stay out in the wild sinking in and soothing the worries that left her tense. Melting against the branch she sat on, she felt sleep begin to tickle the edges of her consciousness. Stupid Impa can wait another day or two to learn the fate about her stupid knight, right? Right.

The rustling of the bushes and leaves on the soft grass floor catch the girl’s attention, making her eyes snap open again. Sitting up, she turns to face the noise and freezes when blue eyes look back. The wolf holds her gaze fiercely, standing still and seeming as if he is challenging her. “…Oh. It’s you.” Her voice is monotone as Wolf blinked at her in a manner that almost seemed affectionate. Too intrigued with her canine stalker at this point, Lin wriggled down to a much lower branch, eyes trained on the dark furred creature as he sat and snuffled. “What do _you_ want, Wolf? I told you before, I won’t share food with you.” She lands on the lowest branch and squats, frowning as the animal continued to stare lazily, ear twitching as if brushing off her comment. Rude little beast he seems. “No, seriously. What do you want.” He blinks once before standing, turning and walking a bit before stopping to look back. Oh. Lin’s gaze is held to his as she slips off the branch and lands on the ground, walking towards the wolf against all better judgement. He’s docile enough, it seems, and also wants to lead her somewhere. Hopefully it’s someplace nice to nap.

The young Hylian slows to a stop once she is next to the creature, eyes wide at how close she managed to get to the wild beast. He looks up at the girl with a pleased expression, a wag beginning in his tail as he gently pressed his snout against her bandaged hand. Lin flinches in surprise at the wet nose and cautiously reached out to pet the top of his head. A smile spread onto her face as a little giggle left her throat. “Alright then, show me what it is you want me to see.”

Wolf dips his head before beginning to trot ahead, going slow enough for Lin to follow. Said girl giggles again and follows after. Maybe she’ll share the tiniest piece of her dinner with her new companion…maybe.

They walk along for quite some time, the path winding and twisting in many odd ways that almost has Lin groaning in irritation many times. She feels uncomfortable when they sneak past Bokoblin camps, and even more so when she took one down with four arrows. Recollecting them, she awkwardly picked up the spoils of her kill and grimaced unhappily towards her friend. Wolf bowed towards her, almost as if apologizing. Lin’s complaining lessens afterwards. The sun is still beating down about an hour into their trek together, and just then does Lin notice that they’re approaching a building that has been long overtaken by nature.

An uneasy feeling fills her as she gazes upon it, like something else about it was off and it should be on the tip of her tongue, but isn’t. Lin glances to Wolf, only to be surprised by the almost solemn expression on his face.

“Ho there!”

Lin shrieks in surprise, whirling around as Wolf barked in anger, stepping closer towards the girl to protect her. A very large man gives a belly laugh, raising a hand to calm the girl, hand holding a cane in the other. “Calm, child, I mean no harm. May I ask what a youngster is doing up here in a place like this? It isn’t entirely safe, you know.” That uneasy feeling increases with this man’s presence, be it because of Mother’s teachings or something else, she cannot figure out. Lin remains silent, keeping to glaring hard at the man instead. The man laughs again. “I assure you, I am no threat. Just an old man hoping to keep peace with the travelers he comes across. What is your name, dear child?”

“I’m exploring,” she responds curtly, ignoring the second question. Under his hood, the man blinks before smiling, nodding in understanding. “I see. And with your loyal companion, it seems that you’re well protected.” Lin looks down to the wolf, who stares at the old man with a great intensity, something the man doesn’t seem to notice. “His name is Wolf and he’s wild. He just so happens to like me, apparently.” The old man chuckles and nods. “Very well, I wish you luck on your travels, little explorer. I hope you find many interesting things.” The man winks and walks off, the creaking of the lantern swinging on his cane making Lin frown at the sound. The beast at her side finally relaxes with a huff, and continues walking forward without even a look back towards her. Letting out a sigh of her own, Lin eyes the departing man warily before continuing after her guide.

\--

“Oh,” is the only word that blurts out of Lin’s mouth as she looks up at the Shrine of Resurrection, taking in the intricate glowing orange markings in the odd black stone structure. She turns to look to the wolf, who’s lying on his side and yawning. “You’re smarter than you make yourself seem, aren’t you, Wolf?” The canine glanced at her and Lin _swore_ she saw a doggy smirk on his face. Huffing at the beast, she turned to the shrine with renewed nervousness.

“What’s inside this chamber will decide my future. Will I be able to remain Lin…or become the new h-hero like Link…” Lin spoke her thoughts out loud, finding comfort in her quiet friend. “I’d much prefer to stay as Lin, but I don’t think I get a say in the matter.” Pulling out the slate with trembling fingers, the child gave a scared smile to the wolf. “W-Wish me luck…”

Stepping up to the shrine’s doors, the girl began searching for a way to enter- before discovering a pedestal covered by an overgrown bush. It had an indent in the surface, the perfect size for a Sheikah Slate. Hesitating, Lin let her fake copy hover over the slot, a fearful whimper leaving her wobbling lip. She doesn’t like this, she really doesn’t like this. Biting her lip, Lin grunted in displeasure at her fears and pressed the slate into the slot. It sunk in and flipped, a chime echoing from the pedestal. A faint rumble vibrated the ground as the door shifted and moved, bringing dust and dirt into the air as it moved away and formed entry to the dark innards of the shrine.

Lin stared in, unable to move from her spot. This is it. Everything her life has lead up to apparently. The next moment will be if she saves a so-called princess from the ruins of Hyrule Castle. Closing her eyes, Lin called forth courage and took tiny cautious steps into the shrine. Opening her eyes, she gently jumped down the big dip and into the wide puddle of water. Further in she could see a faint glow of blue…and felt a pounding begin in the back of her brain.

Now that she was venturing in, the nervousness was quickly fading. Like she _needs_ to keep going forward….like she _wants_ to…

Lin continues down steps and across the tiny hall, the blue and orange of the designs on the walls losing most of its glow due to the sunshine filtering into the chamber. By the many dust particles illuminated in the sun, she can see that this place has not been touched in a very long time. Keep moving, her mind whispers, and Lin’s legs seem to move on their own now.

**Link**

Lin feels goosebumps spread onto her arms, the little hairs on the back of her neck rising. The female’s voice sounds as if it echoes through out the chamber, the little sound coming out as a desperate plea. A plea for someone to wake up. Keep moving. The child feels chilled to the bone, hands clenching into fists as her breath puffs out in front of her like mist. Her heart pounds in her ears as she steps towards the pulsing glowing object situated in the middle of the room straight up ahead. Keep moving, _keep moving, you’re almost there please-_

That….that isn’t her voice in her head. Who _is_ that.

_Please, keep moving, please._

A shaking breath leaves the child as she tries to close her eyes, go still, turn her head. But her body moves against her wishes and steps into the room, the sun outside unable to reach this far back, leaving a low blue light to fill the space. The pull of the object sitting in the pedestal near the entrance of the room isn’t as strong as the pull resignating from the sunken bed of stone sitting before her. Each step closer makes her head pound more, like she was trying extremely hard to remember something she couldn’t for the life of her remember. The faint sound of liquid sloshing is the only other sound besides Lin’s breathing as she closes the space between her and the bed. Lin’s air leaves her lungs once she peers down into it, a burst of tears beginning to slip down her cheeks as her knees wobbled and grew weak.

**Wake up Link.**

_I’m sorry…_

Laying in the stone bed, enveloped with glowing blue liquid laid a grown man, many scars scattered along his pale skin while blond hair encased his structured face. He was handsome, and Lin was sure that if he opened his eyes, it would be the same color as hers. His eyes were to never be opened again, however. The pain in her head grew tenfold, causing Lin to sob as stared down at herself, the person she was 100 years ago.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a merry christmas! In this chapter Lin adds the Old Man to her list of people who irritate her, haha.  
> And because I'm indecisive, how bout I hold a little poll? After the Great Plateau, where should Lin head to first: Zora's Domain or Gerudo Town? (A little tidbit, heading to the desert introduces Ganondad, so keep that in mind!) So yeah! Other than that, enjoy!  
> EDIT: Poll is over! Thank you to everyone who contributed!! :)

Link is dead and Lin is staring down at him. Lin is Link and Link is Lin and _Link is dead_ -

Lin reaches out to touch Link’s face, flinching as her fingers brushed against his ice-cold skin. Closer up she could see his lips were almost purple, but other than that he could almost seem…alive. But he wasn’t. Drops of tears fell from Lin’s cheeks and onto Link’s face as she continued to lean over him, making it seem like he himself was crying. The pain in her head was as fierce as the pain in her side, an unexplainable phantom pain that left her almost ready to collapse. She glances to the large scar on the dead man’s lower left side of his abdomen. That would explain why.

**Please… wake up.**

_I’m sorry I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Ze-_

“Stop,” Lin wheezes out, pressing her palms against her ears as hard as she can. Her legs gave out, causing the girl to collapse to her knees onto the cold stone floor. Cold, everything was so cold. “Please…just…just stop.” The poor child curled up, pressing her forehead against the cool ground as she pressed and pressed on her ears until it hurt. And then it was silent. The moment the buzz of the voices in her head dissipated, the throb of her horrendous headache gained new attention. Whimpering, Lin flopped over onto her side, curling into a tight ball as the chill seeped through her clothes and left her shaking.

The next thing she knew, a cold nose followed by tickling whiskers snuffles against her face, making Lin twitch and squirm away from the offending touch. Cracking her eyes open, the girl is face to face with soft blue eyes and a doggy muzzle. Lin blink slowly as Wolf whines and nudges her again. Warmth then blossoms in her chest at her companion’s worry and a sad smile creeps onto her face. “Hey,” her voice cracks, from sleep she notices, and slowly sits up. Oh. She either accidentally took a nap or passed out…she’s going to go with passed out. At least her headache is gone…

With a groan, she stretches her back and pops the kinks that tensed up her muscles- and looked out towards the exit. The sun was beginning to set, meaning she had to leave and set up camp. A sneeze catches her attention, and Lin looks over at her beastly friend who stared at her. “I’m okay, just had to take a nap.” He blinks at her, eyes glinting with what could be considered an unbelieving look. Lin huffed and stood up, stumbling on sore legs from the early morning’s long climb. Screw this stupid plateau.

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she looked back at Link’s corpse with a swirl of emotions. Pity and despair being the top two that left her almost ready to cry again. Poor man. She hasn’t the strength to pick him up and drag him out of the shrine, meaning he’ll have to be stuck here preserved in that blue goop until someone could come carry him out and bury him. Slowly her eyes dragged from the stone bed to the pedestal where the real Sheikah Slate waited.

With a heavy sigh, Lin walked up, standing on her toes to reach and grab the slate. The surface markings flashed and the slate popped up, the eye on the back of it staring down at her. Grabbing it, Lin pulled out the fake and examined the differences. The fake didn’t glow as bright, nor have all these options and screens as the real one. As curious as she is, Lin would rather experiment with them all once she left the shrine. Holding the real slate tightly in hand, she turned and left her past self in his glowing grave and began to exit the shrine. She’s beginning upon the steps that lead out into the light when the buzz from before tingles at her ears.

**…Hello**

Lin froze, eyes growing wide as the soft pretty voice flooded her head, louder and clearer than it was before, a faint echo to it that made the sound of it more mystical. The child gives a warry glance of her surroundings, glancing towards the wolf who continued to stare at her. She stared right back, heart thumping loudly in her chest as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat and get words out of her mouth. “H-Hi…” A faint hum of laughter came from the voice, causing goosebumps to return to her arms.

**You’re…Lin, correct?**

The child’s heart skips a beat as her name is whispered by the voice. Blue green eyes and yellow hair flash in her mind, and Lin feels the desire to flee again. A great heaving sigh echoes in her head, and all preparations to run instantly leave her body.

**Everything has gone horribly wrong. Link hasn’t woken up and you’re here, holding the Sheikah Slate, when you shouldn’t be. But it’s chosen you, for a purpose that is something a girl like you shouldn’t be asked to handle…You’re so young and so little…it’s unfair...**

A sudden weak laugh erupts from Lin’s throat as the hurt in her heart squeezes and tightens her chest and lungs. “I know,” Lin choked out. She’s glad… _Zelda_ …is on the same page as her. Glad that she sees all the errors and horribleness that comes with putting this much responsibility on a kid barely near the age of adulthood. Perhaps every other little girl or boy would be overcome with joy at the chance of a grand adventure, but Lin knew better. Lin knew the great consequences. The death of her father and horrible lessons of her Mother taught her what she needed to know. Lin wanted to tell the voice that Link is dead, that Link won’t wake up; but the strong sense of…hope…coming from Zelda’s voice made the words die in her throat. A tense silence sits between her and the voice in her mind, ears still buzzing at the odd mental link she still had with the princess.

**…I’m sorry.**

The buzz leaves her head gradually, and Lin is left standing there, stunned stiff by what just occurred. A muzzle pressed against her left hand, causing Lin to jolt out of her stupor. Wolf looked up at her with the same concern as before. “I’m fine,” she whispered, patting his head before exiting the Shrine of Resurrection.

\--

The sun is setting, painting the sky orange and red as Lin steps back out into the openness of the outside. Her favorite times of day, other than night which wasn’t day but…whatever, were sunrise and sunset, when the sky is painted with pretty colors usually seen on a canvas. But this time she barely gave it any mind. Her mind was scrambled with the stressful event that transpired inside that hellhole Shrine. Gripping tightly on the Sheikah Slate in hand, she watches as the doors to the shrine close once more under her command. To protect Link’s corpse. When she can, she’ll come back here to bury him, with Zelda by her side. “I promise,” she whispers faintly towards the shrine as the breeze picks up strength and messes her hair. The faintest brush of… _something_ …against her leaves her shivering. Like the faintest touch of fingertips. Feeling a weird feeling here in front of the Shrine of Resurrection, Lin closed her eyes and prayed for the first time in 5 years. For Link.

Finishing her timid prayer, the young Hylian turns and tiptoes towards the edge of the cliff the shrine sat upon, gazing out towards the great view she had of Hyrule. Before she would’ve felt awe in how much she could see…now she felt upset and tired. Physically, mentally, emotionally. “This sucks,” she mumbled miserably, ignoring the unhappy whine of her companion as she slumped her posture and drooped her shoulders.

Slowly turning around, Lin paused when noticing the stupid old man from before sitting at a fire underneath a rock structure. She’d have to pass him to get down this cliff. The child grimaced, grabbing at the ends of the dress-like tunic she wore and began to stomp over. Wolf began trotting ahead, making Lin slow and watch him, only to gasp in shock as he springs over to drop down on the soft grass right next to the old man’s fire, huffing with delight as he closed his eyes. _Traitor_ , Lin thinks sharply, and begins to stomp harder as she marched up to the weirdo and her friend. Despite the thought of leaving the beast behind, she’s grown too acquainted with his presence, and proceeded to express how very unhappy she was in being in the man’s presence again by making a very unhappy expression. For some reason he just happens to irritate her.

The Old Man glanced up and gave another little chuckle at noticing the young girl. “Oho! Hello again, little explorer! Tell me, did you find what you were looking for?” Lin made sure to glare extra hard at him before dropping onto her butt right next to Wolf. Said creature snorted in amusement at the girl’s attitude, causing Lin to make sure he got a good stare-down by her as well. She has _every right_ to be angry right now, so angry she will be! “Yep.” She responded curtly, pulling out the fake slate as she toyed with the real one.

As a partially tense (on Lin’s side at least) silence settled heavy between them, Lin focused on transferring all her items in the fake sheikah slate to the real one, feeling drowsiness slowly creeping on her as she was finishing up the task. Putting the fake slate in her inventory, Lin sighed in relief and placed the real artifact in its holster, finally glancing up at the man. He was busying himself by roasting an apple, something that made Lin pause as a fuzzy memory flashes in her mind’s eye. Her own memory. She was much younger; sitting next to her father at a campfire, looking up at his carefree happy face as he poked and tickled her between baking apples into the flame. She can’t remember if she liked the finished product or not, but she did enjoy falling asleep with Father under the stars.

Lin blinked out of her daze to find one hovering in front of her face. Blinking rapidly in surprise, and to fight off the drooping of her eyelids, Lin cautiously took it and looked up at the man, pouting at the ever present light expression on his face. It was at this moment that Lin noticed how weird his nose was, and then had to make an effort on not staring. “You were eying the apple without blinking. I have many, so I do not mind sharing. An apple and an open flame make for a succulent treat.”

The child took a slow tentative bite, and proceeded to spit it out. She remembers now that she definitely did not like the taste of a baked apple and handed it back hastily towards the now laughing old man. She wasn’t hungry right now anyways, she told herself grumpily. Glancing him over warily, Lin frowned at how weird and cloud-like his weirdly long beard was, the annoying creaky lantern on his cane and his weirdly big nose. Weird. The man is weird. “I suppose it’s not for everyone then,” he mused happily while taking a good bite out of the warmed fruit. Lin only grunted, head beginning to nod off. She faintly recognized the darkness of night, dusted with the mass number of stars that glowed in the sky. Wolf crawled over to stretch out next to Lin, keeping her side warm as her eyes began to slowly close, the child unable to fight off sleep anymore.

As she was gently pulled into sleep, she missed the feeling of warm fabric being draped over her like a blanket, and the soft murmur of “goodnight young one.”

\--

The girl wakes up to the sun already high in the sky and Wolf nowhere in sight. Sitting up, she shivered at the sudden cold, wrapping her arms around herself. Whatever warmth that kept her cozy last night was gone…as well as the old man, now that Lin was getting her wits about her. She stretched out, grunting at the nice sensation while removing the soreness in her muscles from the uncomfortable position she was in all night. Lin stands and grabs her things, taking a moment to let the early afternoon breeze brush over her, causing small hairs to tickle her face. She sneezes, wipes her nose on her arm, and starts off. The little Hylian doesn’t go far before she finds the old man staring out towards the odd building that gave Lin the willies. Grimacing, she tries to walk past almost like she doesn’t know he’s there-

“Ah, the Great Plateau. A beautiful yet deadly place. It is said it’s the birthplace of the kingdom of Hyrule. Brilliant yes?”

Dang it.

Lin stops and slowly turns, pouting more as she sees the man looking at her. She shrugs instead of answering, shyness and stubbornness keeping her lips sealed. He doesn’t seem as annoying _now_ but maybe that’s just her still feeling pretty tired. He chuckles for the hundredth time, making Lin wonder what it is he just finds so funny all the time. The lantern on his stick squeaks and sways as he points towards the building, catching Lin’s attention and keeping her standing there longer.

“This temple, the Temple of Time, was once the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom 100 years ago, it’s been sitting in a state of decay.”

“Decay,” Lin interrupts in a displeased monotone voice, reminding herself of the dead body she’s leaving behind in the dark shrine. A horrible tomb for someone who doesn’t deserve it, no matter how much she’ll curse his existence in the future from all the hardships she’ll have to face. Lost in her dark thoughts on all the rapidly growing stresses building on her shoulders, Lin is unaware of the old man growing closer- until a hand places itself on her head.

Lin jolts and looks up, craning her neck to do so. Never mind, this man’s annoying again. Annoyingly _tall_. He looks down at her with an odd expression, one that has her filled with suspicion. “Tell me, that object at your hip. What is it?” The young girl narrowed her eyes, trying to take a step back, but his hand keeps her from doing so. “An heirloom. It was given to me.” Not exactly a lie, right? He hums, before patting her head and backing away. “It looks quite special. Be careful on not breaking it.”

Ignoring him, the little Hylian turns and starts stomping away. Hmph! She is much more responsible than that jerk thinks of her! “Be careful not to break it, my butt,” she grumbles unhappily. How rude. Swiping out the slate, she summons forth an apple from her inventory and takes a bite out of it, stomach growling happily at the promise of food. She’s glad her appetite returned after yesterday. She’ll have to swipe up what she can here to make a big meal. The girl is just making it down the hill when the buzz re-enters her head, ears and brain tingling from the ancient magic that causes the girl to tense up.

**Lin. Little one. Head to the mark on the Sheikah Slate. I promise, it’ll help you immensely.**

Lin doesn’t reply, but her cheeks are burning from the name the princess had called her. Little one. _“You be good now, alright, little one? I’ll be back soon.” He pats Lin’s head, smiling down at her with warm blue eyes, before grabbing up his sword and leaving the house to never return._ The girl shakes away the memory, looking down at the yellow mark on the slate’s map before frowning. That’ll be a bit of a trek but…if she has to then she guesses she’ll do it…

\--

The moment she’s under the safety of the weird sheikah thingie that Zelda sent her to, Lin takes the chance to sit down and try not to cry. Again. Gingerly she grabs her ankle, hissing at the throbbing pain. She stepped on it awkwardly when trying to dodge the many arrows being shot at her by the many bokoblins, speeding past danger as she had to beeline through their camps to reach her destination. Many fell by her own arrows, but many more replaced each body that burst into purple cloudy smoke. Not going to bother getting killed by those nasty creatures. Lungs burning, Lin hadn’t enough energy to have a panic attack, despite the anxiety thrumming in her chest.

Wiping the sweat away, she cautiously stood up, peeking past the rock formation to check to see if she was still being followed. Nope. Thank the Goddess. Brushing off her tunic dress, Lin looked wearily at what she risked her life for. Another pedestal, a bit different, but still. Another _pedestal_. “This isn’t gonna end well,” she mumbles unhappily, slinging the boko bow she nabbed over her shoulder and pulled out the Sheikah Slate. Cringing away, she steps up and places the slate on the pedestal, letting it flip and sink in before hearing the chime of activation.

_“Sheikah Tower activated. Please watch for falling rocks”_

…..What.

A rumbling tremor from the ground nearly throws her off her feet, leaving Lin to cling desperately to the pedestal to try and keep any amount of balance. The trembling increased and increased, causing the girl to cry out in fear. “WHAT IS HAPPENING,” she shrieks, voice squeaky and high pitched and hysterical. Next thing she knew, rocks burst and broke and went flying everywhere, dirt and dust clouding down around her. It would be amazing if it didn’t look like so many of them could squish her if they fell in and rolled. Stunned silent, she gawked as her grip on the pedestal tightened, practically straddling it as the trembling lessened until it was right under her feet.

It takes Lin a bit too long to notice that she was seeing more sky instead of ground, causing her heart to drop to the pit of her stomach. “Oh, please no.” She whines as the Sheikah Tower began to tower over everything, taking away the safety of solid ground. It jolts to a stop, and everything is silent. The air is cooler up here, but as the wind ruffles her hair and clothes, Lin is breathing heavily as she slowly pulls away from the pedestal. Shakily, she begins to tiptoe closer to the edge.

The child peers down and nearly throws-up at the sight of how high up she was, how little the trees and rocks looked and how _horrible a death_ it would be if she fell from this height. Stepping back, the young girl moves closer towards the middle before deciding to lay down on her back. A heartbeat later, Lin takes a deep breath and lets out the loud high-pitched scream that has been needing to come out for a long time now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand Great Plateau arc is over! Now, from what I've collected from the poll; Lin will be heading to Zora's Domain next! Get ready for the fishes lmao. Also, a late Happy New Year to everyone, hope 2018 goes well for you!

“Ow,” Lin rasps out, throat hurting after the constant screaming. Lying there, she peeked out from beyond the top of the tower where the clouds and birds soared in the sky. The girl sighs heavily and finally sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. All that adrenaline from before is gone, leaving her quite exhausted. Slowly, to not get lightheaded, Lin stood up and moved closer to the Sheikah Slate still in the pedestal. “Regional Map extracted,” she read off the screen, a little pleased that she has a map of the plateau now.

Taking back the slate, she placed it back in its slot and nervously looked out at the high view she had of the kingdom. The moment she laid eyes on the castle, Zelda was back in her mind.

**Dearest Lin. We’ve been waiting 100 years for freedom.**

We? Lin stares, eyes wide as she spots the faint glow of golden light resonating from the castle. Even from far away she could feel it’s warmth flow and blossom into her core, wrapping the child in its ethereal presence. It made the tingling magic feeling she felt in her head spread to her toes and fingers. She thought only the Princess was trapped in the castle… A tremble begins, lighter than the one she felt before, causing the girl to tense and watch with growing fear as purple and black slimy smoke began to grow swirl and circle around Hyrule Castle.

**The Beast. When the beast regains its true power, this world will end…**

A tiny fearful whimper left the child as she watched a monstrous shadow with glowing eyes and a gaping maw roar and growl as it consumed the castle with its dark energy. On some random instinct, Lin went to grab for the weapon that wasn’t in her scabbard and tensed. Everyone expects her to fight _that_ and win?! A pang made her flinch and grab her side, phantom pain of a past life returning as she continued to stare at the terror that caused the collapse of the kingdom.

Suddenly, the yellow light flashed brighter, taking away Lin’s fear and pains and returning the warmth she felt before as it removed the beast from the skies. The young Hylian let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding, and grabbed one of the curving pillars of the Sheikah Tower to keep herself held up, legs and knees feeling partially weak as to what she witnessed.

**Now then. Little One, it hurts to ask this of you, but you must hurry. We need your help to save Hyrule from devastation, before it’s too late! With Link still locked in slumber, you are the new chosen one, the one who will seal the darkness. Your journey will be long and difficult, but I believe in you, and I know courage will guide you towards victory. Sweet Lin, I hope you’ll forgive me for forcing this task onto you. Maybe if we’re lucky, Link will awaken and take responsibility back and save you from this experience.**

“Link’s dead,” Lin whispers, heart and head hurting as she forced the words out. The princess went quiet, and it was only the feeling of her still in the girl’s mind that let her know she was still here.

**I see…then I apologize even more. I must go, but know that I’ll always be with you…good luck.**

Lin sighed, the barely held back despair in Zelda’s words hurting her chest more. With a sniffle, the child rubbed harsh at her eyes until they hurt, shaking her head to will away the tears. She’s never been much of a crybaby, but emotional event after event keeps showing up and testing her strength. Sighing again, the girl turned and began to try and figure out how to get down from this hellish tower.

\--

The child gives a shaky sigh of relief as her feet touched the ground. If she didn’t have much self-control, she would’ve given into the urge to bend down and kiss the dirt ground. Fixing the belt straps and equipment that wrapped around her body, Lin looked back up at the tower and tsked at the height. Hate how she’s gonna have to go up quite a few more of these.

“Hoy!”

Lin growls, and mentally says as many curse words as she knows, before turning to face the old man with a stoic expression. Said expression instantly fails the moment she witnesses him gliding down from the sky towards her, wrapping up the cloth object he used and putting it away. He chuckles at her amazement, which reminds Lin how stupid and annoying this guy was. The man smiles at her, stick cane back in his hands as he glanced from the tower, back towards her.

“My, my…it would seem we have quite the enigma here. This tower and others just like it have erupted across the land, one after another.” Lin watched him, taking out the sheikah slate to look at the map. Considering the outline of other landmasses surrounding the Great Plateau, she already knew that there were many more waiting for her. She’s not stupid! The man tilted his head, a puzzled frown on his face. “It’s almost as though…a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly.”

The girl shrugged in response when he turned back to her, only to frown at the sudden change of demeanor in the man. “If you do not mind me asking…did anything _odd_ occur while you were atop that tower?” Lin watched him a moment, frowning more at his persistence of getting info out of her. Why was he such a nosy asshole? An idea comes to mind, making Lin smirk.

“Yep,” she replied, short and sweet. The man’s eyes squinted, and he hummed.

“I see. Would you mind telling me what happened?”

“A dead princess talked to me in my mind” she deadpanned, hoping that her blunt craziness (although secretly true) would get him to leave her alone. As long as word of a crazy child who talks to the dead doesn’t spread from town to town, she’ll be ok. The old man watched her in surprise for a moment, before he suddenly erupted with loud laughter. “How unique! Not just anyone, but a princess!”

He winks at her, making Lin still and wonder if he knew more than he was letting on. Before she could even attempt asking anything, the bearded fellow was turning to point towards the castle, where wisps of purple still swirled in the air, and ice coiled unpleasantly in Lin’s stomach. “I assume you caught sight of that atrocity enshrouding the castle. That…is-”

“-Calamity Ganon. I know. He destroyed Hyrule and will destroy much more if it isn’t stopped. I **know**.”

There’s silence between them as the old man hums again. “You are a very smart child, I see.” He turns to smile softly down at her, soothing the irritation Lin felt as she glared up at him. Silence continued, thick and heavy between them, until the Old Man startled Lin with a sudden burst of laughter. Gosh it’s annoying how he finds everything so _funny_! Nothing is THAT funny!! “Well then, little explorer, I suppose you should be wanting to make your way down this plateau now, yes?” Lin paused, realizing with dread that she…really didn’t have a plan on getting down. Oops.

Bashfully, Lin nodded and stared at the man’s nose to ward off feelings of embarrassment. It certainly does the trick. “Doing so would be quite difficult without a paraglider like mine, that’s for sure,” he says in a way that adults talk when they’re hinting a gift for you that they want you to guess.

“Paraglider,” she repeated, trying to show how irritated she was getting with this conversation. Of course, the man chuckles and shakes his head. “Piqued your interest, have I? Yes, I didn’t come down here soaring on my own feathery wings, you know!” Lin continued to stare, tapping her foot as her impatience began to grow. Get. To. The point! He falters a moment, looking Lin over again before giving that annoying amused look again. “Come. Let me show you something.”

They walk to the edge of the little cliff. Looking around, Lin’s gaze immediately falls on a building similar to the Shrine of Resurrection. The man hummed, pointing his cane towards the structure. “Do you see that structure there? It began glowing the exact moment those towers rose up from the ground.” The young girl tilted her head, lips pursed. It seems important. Lin gets the feeling she’ll be needing to go there at some point.

“Bring me the treasure found within and I’ll trade you the paraglider. A fair exchange, I believe.” The Old Man smiled down at the child, who couldn’t help but give a shy smile. Giving a faint nod, the little Hylian jumped down and darted towards the structure. She slowed upon reaching it, gazing at the pedestal nervously before looking back towards the old man- and finding him not there. Oh. Frowning unhappily, Lin pulled the sheikah slate out and stepped up onto the little stone platform. A chime sounded from the artifact in her hands, causing her to glare at the words that appeared on the slate’s screen. ‘Oman Au Shrine.’ Huh.

Worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, Lin quickly activated the shrine and stepped back, glancing down at the symbol beneath her feet before looking back up as the weird door opening like a bunch of rectangular teeth parting. Squinting up at the entire structure, Lin tilted her head side to side, a sudden giggle spilling from her lips at the mental image. If you look at it a certain funny way, it almost looks like a weird gross monster with a long flappy jaw and a large fat ugly throat with teeth! Great, now that she’s seen it, she can’t _unsee_ it. Lin pursed her lips and walked in, standing on the glowing blue eye of the Sheikah and pouting down at it.

It flashed a glow of blue, making the child’s heart lurch. What’s going to happen now? A jolt, and the circular panel began to transport her down. Into the belly of the beast…

\--

Magic is awesome. Heroism is weird and unsafe and scary. But magic? Amazing.

Lin was playing with chests and boxed, picking them up with “Magnesis” and throwing them around to break them. Using three of the treasure chests she’s obtained, she’s used her new power to make a cool chest pyramid! Deactivating the rune, the girl giggled with amusement at her little creation, only to scowl as a soft whistle carried across the wind. Mood immediately soured, Lin turned to glare up towards the Sheikah Tower. Ugh, right. She has to go meet the old man.

Seriously, he is REALLY annoying! He’s decided that he’s needed three more of those weird…orb-y spirit-y thingies from those creepy ugly monks from those creepy shrines. The deal was that she traded ONE of the spirit orbs for the paraglider, NOT. THREE. He’s probably never gonna give her the paraglider, so why should she bother doing his stupid tasks for him?!

Anger building, Lin aggressively chose the ‘Travel’ option for the Plateau Tower and- whoah. _Woah!_ Everything was blue, her vision her body. The thrum of magic pounded in her ears and head, but it didn’t hurt. Next thing she knew, the thrumming faded and she was standing on top of the Helltower. With the Old Man. Inhaling, Lin turned and stomped up to him. She threw him the nastiest angriest look she could muster, folding her arms and tucking her chin to glare up at him through her messy bangs. Hearing him laugh _as usual_ made her want to kick him in the leg and shriek in anger. This isn’t fair! Stop being so mean and ANNOYING!

“I’m surprised it took you this long to make it up here! Not nice to keep your elders waiting.”

Lin huffed and proceeded to turn away from him and sit crisscross on the ground.

“…What are you doing?”

“Protesting.” Lin growled, attempting to set the black stone-material of the tower on fire with her angry eyes. A chuckle came from the old man, and Lin wanted to punch him in his stupid weird nose. “And what are you protesting, pray tell?” “You and your stupid broken promise.” She turned to glare at him again, pausing a moment to see the old man sitting as well. “I said treasure, little explorer, but I didn’t say there would only be one treasure.” “But that’s mean. And you’re mean, making me run around and do stupid things like this. I didn’t come here to be your little servant. I’ll find my own way down if it’s gonna be like this. I…I have more important things to do.” She stood up abruptly, continuing to frown unhappily at the man as she stomped her foot. “So, stop wasting my time, you and your weird nose!”

The old man frowned. Lin froze for a moment, fear flipping in her stomach. She immediately deflated, shoulders hunching as she shrunk in and hid behind her unruly hair. A hand gently pats her hair, and a soft hum leaves the man. “I apologize for toying with you and hurting your trust. I promise you I’ll give you the paraglider, but you will have to collect the three other Spirit Orbs first. You’ll gain a greater treasure with four of them along with my object. Once you have all of them, Lin, meet me in the Temple of Time. There…I shall tell you everything.”

Lin sighed and closed her eyes. “Okay…w-wait-“ She opened her eyes, only to watch stunned as the old man disappeared in a flutter of glowing blue specks. How did…he know her name? With an unhappy whine, the little girl shambled over and began her slow and cautious descent back down the tower.

\--

Lin was cold. And despite the new promises the old man made to her, she still hated him. Good thing she had that warm long sleeve coat thing she picked up. That was way too big for her. Taking a moment to re-tie the long flapping sleeves so she could use her hands, the little girl took out her boko bat to run towards the nearest enemy camp to steal their campfire. She feels a tiny bit concerned that she so easily lost any hint of remorse about these nasty little bokoblins. All she cares about is stealing their meat and warmth. And weapons. And arrows, especially those. Lin’s decided to start playing around with other types of weapons other than her bows, yet still keeps away from swords. They still make her feel queasy and panicky.  Bow and arrows will always be her best, she thinks.

Within moments, the child was chewing on a hot cooked piece of beef, practically halfway into the flames of the campfire. She was shivering, but not as badly as before. Taking out the slate and placing it in her lap, Lin re-read all the info on her new runes over and over. Was this that stupid treasure the Old Man was talking about? Cause…she has bombs now, and ice powers and movement stopping powers and cool things like that. That’s some nice treasure, at least to her. Thankfully now she gets to go back to the Temple of Time and get that dang paraglider.

Finishing the meat, Lin threw the bones into the fire and stood up, brushing her gloved hands off onto the warm pants the man was kind enough to provide. Before she could even think about teleporting to warmer parts of the plateau, a howl echoed across the night air. The young girl paused, taking the moment to close her eyes and let the sound ebb away all the worries buzzing in her brain. Howling is a wolf’s way of singing lullabies; her father would say. Creatures of twilight. “Goodnight Wolf,” Lin whispered softly, pressing the travel icon on the sheikah slate as her friend sang far off in some area in the plateau.

She was back near the Shrine of Resurrection when she opened her eyes again, and turned to head back down the familiar slope. She falters at the lack of a being sitting under the rock formation and sighed. Pulling out a fire arrow, Lin easily let the wood still left in the firepit, and settled down next to the heat of the flames. She watched the embers spark and dance up into the cold night air. From her inventory, Lin pulls out a make-shift blanket she stitched out with large cloth pieces she’s collected from traveling from shrine to shrine. The warmth and heaviness of it altered from the different kinds of fabric she fused together. Either way, it was better than having nothing…

Pulling out used elixir flasks, she sipped at the fresh water she collected, shivering at the iciness of it sliding down her throat. It made her wriggle, the feeling of the chilliness in her tummy. The chirping and singing of cicadas and other summer insects filled the void of darkness with noise. The young Hylian entertained herself, watching her breath puff out before her like little clouds of smoke. Positioning herself so she was facing towards the fire more, she pretended she was a fire breathing Lynel, burning down her enemies and all those who trespassed upon her land. Lin let out a low growl, pulling her lips back in a snarl as she pushed hot air out of her mouth. Again, she growled and roared, slashing the air with her imaginary claws. If she were a lynel, she could easily make her way to Hyrule Castle and save the princess. Maybe if Link were a lynel, he’d haven’t been able to die.

She slumped back, wriggling again to get more comfortable under her sucky blanket. Holding back tears, Lin curled into a tight ball and sniffled. Even with the many scary nights at home with Mother, she’s never felt this lonely before.

 _The sky glowed red as blood, fire and smoke stretching to touch it from rooftops. People were seen fleeing in terror as their screams rang from every direction, the sound piercing her ears and sending cold dread deep into her bones._  
  
_The cry of an otherworldly beast filled the air, drowning out all other sound. The world seemed to tremble, roads and buildings crumbling. Hellfire swirled in the air, gathering to barely form a shape, before yellow eyes full of hate and **malice** locked onto her. It roared, and she screamed in fear, her young child voice being echoed by the pained cry of a young man. Then four more people, who’s cries of suffering rattled her deep into the core, filling her with guilt and misery and she’s choking on emotional pain with the taste of the black and purple sludge lodged in her throat._

_She’s choking and wheezing, the thick viscus liquid bubbling and spilling out of her lips and down her chin. She’s dying as she holds a glowing blade, pointing it with a shaking hold towards the nightmare beast that growled angrily towards her. The hands of a man reach out from behind her and hold on over her own, staining her hands with the blood that stained his. The sword steadies, and she hears his wheezing for breath in her ear, and fight to gain enough air to speak-_

Lin wakes up with a blood curdling scream, cold sweat drenching her forehead and back. The sound of her cry echoes out, causing birds to caw and scatter into the air. The child grabs her throat, feels no sticky liquid and lets out a shaky gasp of relief. A few heartbeats later she breaks down crying, placing her head into her hands. Lying down in a fetal position, the poor girl cries loud and hard as the roar of the fire beast remains embedded in her brain.

\--

Small wisps of smoke rise up from what’s left of the campfire as Lin stares tiredly towards it. She cried herself back to sleep last night, yet had a fitful rest, leaving the child feeling exhausted. But, she had a job to do. Putting away things and picking up her weapons, Lin made way towards the Temple of Time, squinting at the building, hoping to see the old man waiting for her there. It takes a few minutes, and at least one battle, for her to make it inside. She finds a bow in a chest and a few empty pots to break before walking up to the quite large Goddess Statue situated at the very end of the building’s corpse.

Lin stares at it, feeling guilty like she always did, looking at the gentle smile carved into the stone statue’s face. _Mother isn’t here to stop me, not like before._ The little Hylian took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands together.  Immediately the sensation of magic washes over her, and Lin feels a shiver go up her spine. A sing-song whispery voice danced inside her head, saying it accepted her offering and wishes her better health and strength.

The girl’s eyes fluttered open, being left with a feeling that a little bit of…something…had changed inside her. She looked back up at the Goddess Statue and felt bashful, like the inanimate object was actually alive and watching over her. Princesses of Hyrule are considered descendants of the Goddess Hylia, right? Maybe this is how Princess Zelda is watching over her? Feeling even more shy, Lin gives a quick timid wave to the statue. “H-Hi!” She stutters and dart away.

Well, the Old Man wasn’t in there. Isn’t this where they’re supposed to meet?

Stepping out, she squinted up at the temple in confusion, blocking out the rising sun with her hand to try and spot him. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots his weird blue wispies dancing in that little area in the bell tower, and sighed heavily. More climbing then.

It takes a little while for her to find a spot that seems easy enough, and begins to trek up the building’s wall with great determination. She WILL get that paraglider she was promised and she WILL figure out what the hell the old man’s deal is! Grunting, Lin’s arms are trembling from the strain as she pulls herself up, and lays haphazardly on the stone tiled roof. Once she gains her breath back, the child stands up cautiously, wobbling a few nervous seconds until catching her balance. She looks up and locks gaze with the Old Man. For once he isn’t smiling or laughing. In fact, he looks…sad. And that somehow makes Lin feel sad. Frowning, the girl wobbles over and lands in the tower, eyeing the chest for a moment before looking back to her pal. Is he her friend? Guess so, just an annoying and old one. She gives an awkward smile his way, hoping that seeing her being friendly for once would brighten his mood.

Her efforts pay off, and the man gives a hearty laugh. Lin herself brightens in light of her accomplishment. “Well done, young one,” he pauses a moment, his smile fading some. “Well then, the time has come to show you who I truly am.” Lin blinks, the delight she felt quickly fading. Oh. So…even who he is a lie too?! Quite the impulsive liar, he seems.

“I was King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule.” The title is declared loud and with pride, throwing Lin even more off guard. The last king, _Zelda’s dad_ , has been the old man this entire time? And she called him mean and insulted his nose to his FACE! Feeling nervous, Lin tugs at the bottoms of her tunic, trying desperately on what to say, like saying sorry for instance, but she just couldn’t find the words. “Th-That’s a long name,” the young girl finally blurts out, and flushes red in the cheeks at her lame choice of words. The king doesn’t seem to mind, and laughs again.

“Do not worry, young one,” He cuts himself off, figure being engulfed in a flash of blue and white light, before the shine disappears to leave him standing there in his true kingly self. He looked cool, even more intimidating than before, which didn’t exactly help with Lin’s anxiety. “I understand you meant no ill-will. I didn’t want my identity known straight away and hid myself, anxiously waiting for the slumbering champion to awaken. Instead, you happened to show up, wearing the champion’s tunic that was left for my hero. Knowing Impa of the Sheikah, she wouldn’t just give this clothing to anyone.”

Lin frowned at the mention of Impa and Link. The uncertainty and fear that lingers in the back of her head creeps forward, leaking into her thoughts. Self-conscious, the little Hylian wraps her arms around herself, back hunching. “I-I don’t like her. She’s making me be the hero. Says I’m the Hylian Champion…Link…reborn. At first, I didn’t believe her, but a-after the few things I’ve seen and witnessed, I guess it’s true. The hero, Link, is dead. And I’m him reborn or some kind of stupid soul-thing like that, and I have to save Princess Zelda and destroy the Calamity Ganon…and I’m scared.”

She sniffles and rubs her eyes, wiping the tears away that threatened to spill. A hand rests on her head suddenly, causing the child to flinch and pull away. The king sighs heavily, and gives the girl a reassuring look. “I’m sorry for how difficult this must be for you, but I thank you for what you are about to do, and I know that in the end, Hyrule will thank you too.”

Lin shook her head and backed away, squeezing her arms around herself tighter. “I’m not doing this for you, or for Hyrule. I’m doing it for Zelda, who didn’t deserve any of this. That’s it.” A sad hum of amusement left the King as he smiled sadly. “I understand, and still I thank you. Here is the paraglider, as promised. Please…save Hyrule…save my daughter….” King Rhoam then disappeared once more in a waver of blue light, disintegrating into tiny blue specks. The child took a deep breath and closed her eyes, waiting for the shaking to leave her hands and knees. A few moments later, she opens her eyes and looks out towards the blue sky, the sun peeking through the temple from behind clouds. With another breath, Lin darts forward and jumps off the tower. The paraglider opens, taking in wind and picking up the child higher into the air.

The cold wind bites at her nose and ears, and Lin has never felt so terrified and amazed in her life.

In a few minutes times, Lin found herself standing on the crumbling stone wall perimeter of the Isolated Plateau. Nervousness coiled in her gut as she leaned and looked down at the very deep fall from where she perched. With the folded paraglider in one hand, she shouldn’t be afraid to just run and jump, but…she is. Hah, if she can’t find the courage to do this, how is she going to have the courage to free the Divine Beasts? Swallowing the lump in her throat, the young Hylian glanced behind her shoulder, looking towards where the Shrine of Resurrection sat. “I hope I make you proud,” she whispered to the Fallen Hero. The wind picked up speed, cradling her and pressing faintly on her back as if gently telling her to go.

Pushing away all her doubts and fears through a slow exhale; Lin turned back and jumped.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 7 IS HERE!! I'm so happy to be working on this again, thank you to everyone for your patience! Zora's Domain Arc has officially begun, and I can't wait to show off how Lin gets along with you-know-who. *wink wonk*
> 
> Also! I forgot to show this off last time but I drew Lin! It's a bit old but I'm still proud of it! I do have another piece but I can't find it. Once I do I'll link it as well!: http://mixedkit10.tumblr.com/post/168442813762/heres-lin-the-precious-lil-bab-in-my-breath-of
> 
> I'm sorry if this seems a little rushed, I got very excited towards the end. Feedback would be very appreciated and I hope you enjoy! :)

Lin was tired.

Laying in the guest bed, she stared up blankly at the ceiling, eyes burning and limbs sore. The bustle of the East Wind store echoed from downstairs. She recalls how she ended up here, found collapsed and bleeding at the gate of Hateno village. Grimacing, the child lifted her shirt up to trace the healing wound on her torso, shivering at the stab of pain toying with it caused. Let’s just say Lin finally believes those stories of giant boulders coming to life.

She lowers the shirt and slowly turned over, staring at the two younger kids curled up in their parents bed, and wished she held that air of carefreeness. Lin felt guilty, wandering around here in Hateno when she should be heading out. Her sudden injury put a hold on her plans on heading to the Lanayru region.She has no idea what Zora’s Domain is, but she was looking forward to finding out. Perhaps she’ll ask Purah later.

For a week Lin has been in Hateno, getting better while helping with errands to pay back hospitality. Pruce helped her practice her archery, giving tips on weak points. He even gave her a small dagger to use, in case she had to deal with hand to hand combat. Lin played with the village kids (it usually left her back in bed, damn brats can’t do anything but roughhouse sometimes.) and even returned the fake slate back to Purah.

The hateno lab was…. _quite_ something. She at first was excited to see a girl as young as her being a cool scientist...only to discover she was an old lady accidentally turned young. Impa’s sister, even. Together they joked and giggled a little at Impa’s prudeness. Lin liked Purah.

The dull common throb in her abdomen wasn't enough to keep the tired girl from falling asleep. Her vision blurred till her eyes closed. She was immediately was passed out, dreaming of mist and fog swirling between the gnarly trees of a forest.

\--

“WAKE UUUUUP!” A tiny form jumps onto Lin’s bed, making her flail and wake with a gasp. Sitting up, she held back the desire to push the little boy off, staring unamused at his giggling face. Ivee stepped up to pull her brother away, smiling up at Lin. “Dinner.”

It goes by quietly, Lin giving polite responses to polite questions. She avoided paying attention to the worried looks from the adults and the curious ones from the younger kids. Tomorrow she will be heading back out, she announced, causing the little kids to whine and the couple to give sad watery smiles.

“I'll be okay,” she spoke softly, avoiding looking up as she pushed her food around with her fork. It’s silent for a moment, making her stomach squeeze with nervousness. A hand gently squeezes her shoulder, causing Lin to look up with a jolt. Pruce was smiling at her, making her face feel a bit warm. “We know. Just promise to come say hello whenever ” A shy smile spread onto the girl’s face, turning away to take a bite of her food.

\--  
Lin owns a house...apparently. .

She stood in an empty home at the far end of Hateno village, staring at the dirty floor and figuring out how she got here. She...didn't think that weird Bolson guy would actually sell to her, considering she was a kid. But. He did. Huh.

Lin sighed heavily, rubbing her face with a groan. She was going around saying goodbye when curiosity got the best of her. This isn’t fair! How is she supposed to handle and entire house?! Turning around, she walked out back into the fresh air, coughing from the dust inside. She looked to the three construction guys hanging out by the tree. Is this considered loitering now? This technically her property now.

“So...I only got to get you a bunch of wood now?”

“Yep!~ Thirty bundles!~”

Lin nodded, thinking for a moment. Her mother popped up in her head, angry and sneering. “ _As long as you live in this house you abide by MY rules!_ ” She perks up, a thought coming to mind as she looked back at the crappy house. She has her own place now, meaning she can have her own rules! Meaning she needs wood.

“Be back later!” She runs across the bridge, looking down towards the little lake, thinking about wanting to swim there. She’ll make this place her own, her little hideaway to pretend her life isn't in shambles. She has friends here and can make rupees by doing errands! She can even bring Zelda here when she finally saves her!!

Grinning widely, Lin sped up till she was rushing out of the village.

\--

The young girl drops the last bundle in front of Bolson with a grunt, rubbing her singed fingers as she watched him eagerly. He raised an eyebrow, smirk widening before he gave a little sing song hum. “There you go! Your debt is paid!~ How’d you get it done so quickly?”

“Bombs.”

“B-Bombs?..”

Lin waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it. What now?”

Bolson rubbed his chin, humming in thought. “Well, I can now upgrade and furnish your home. Make it more homey!~ However each installation will cost 100 rupees each. How’s that sound?”

The little hylian fished the different colored currency from her pouch, remembering how she was taught the easiest way to count money. “I have exactly 200. What will that get me?”

Bolson only smirked again.

\--  
The house was fully furnished, giving the space a cozy feeling. Lin felt that she could stay here forever, peeking at every little nook and cranny, looking for secrets. Beaming with joy, the child stepped outside and whipped out the Sheikah Slate. As she snapped a picture of her new home, Bolson’s chuckle made her look over. He was smiling kindly at her hands on his hips.

“I take it you like it?~” Lin shook her head really fast, smile still on her face and making her cheeks hurt. “Good! I wanted to make sure this place was perfect for you.”

Well now, that’s odd. Squinting, Lin faced the construction worker, tilting her head in confusion. “Huh?” Bolson chuckled again, turning away in fake shyness. “Oh my, I let it slip!~ I’ll have to tell my secret!~” He stepped closer, placing a hand on the girl’s head.

“A year ago I was doing construction at the village nearby. It took me awhile to recognize you, you got bigger! But, I thought you’d very much like a new home, away from your mother.”

Lin was frozen, staring up nervously at the man as nausea swirled in her stomach. “You….know?” He hummed and patted her head. “It’ll be alright. You have the people of Hateno to look after you. And me, but don’t expect this sort of stuff to happen again! You’re gonna have to pay up for the exterior stuff!~” The little Hylian took a moment to regain her bearings, giving Bolson a small smile

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, honey~”

Lin spent that night in her home, sleeping soundly in her bed after a big meal. The next morning, she left Hateno with more energy than she’s had in weeks.

\--

Lin hated everything.

She hated how  _wet_ everything was. She hated how _dirty_ she was getting. She hated _the soreness throughout her body_. Lin. Hated.  Everything.

The child grumbled and growled as she stomped along, trembling as the cold rain seeped in through her clothes into her bones, making everything ache. She’s certain she had a cold, cheeks feeling warm despite how freezing she was. This STUPID rain wouldn’t let up enough for her to make a campfire, it was ridiculous! She was suffering...but she supposed she asked for this.

The only relief Lin got was her time doing shrines along the way, and the whole afternoon she spent on top of Lanayru Tower. Her entire trek through the stupid place she kept meeting talking fish after talking fish babbling about some stupid prince. Lin didn’t bother to pay attention to any of it, her only goal in mind was to _get warm_. Didn’t help that those stupid lizard assholes kept pelting her with jets of water, it really hurt! The girl felt no remorse when striking them down. Their weapons were useful too!

Taping a marker onto where Zora’s Domain was on her map, Lin pocketed the slate and gave an awkward goodbye to Gruve. “Bye fish guy!” She yelled over the wind and jumped off the tower and into the air. Opening the paraglider, the girl winced against the wind and rain drops hitting her in the face. In her peripheral vision, Lin caught sight of the glowing orange of a shrine and immediately turned course towards it. She liked getting the spirit orbs, they made her feel accomplished and left her chest feeling tingly and fuzzy for a few minutes afterwards.

Landing on the platform, the child whipped out the sheikah slate as it pinged. “Soh Kofi Shrine,” she read out loud, knowing she was probably butchered the name. “Does this...mean something? Is it a special sheikah language,” Lin mused out loud, mumbling to herself as she let the inside floor lower her into the shrine.

Blinking once, the young Hylian found herself standing in the usual Shrine room, the area stretching out in front of her wide and empty save for pillars. She eagerly walked in before the deep humming voice of the Monk echoed in the chamber.

“ _To you who steps foot in here, I am Soh Kofi. In the name of the goddess Hylia, I offer this minor test of strength.”_

“Minor _what_ now?!”

\--

Standing back outside in the rain, Lin was trembling for a whole different reason. That.. Was the most **terrifying** thing she’s ever experienced. A BABY GUARDIAN popped out of the ground and began to shoot the hell outta her! She barely had time to react before her vision blurred and she….found herself back out here…

Lin turned to gawk up at the shrine, mouth hanging open. “.....FUCK YOU!” She screeched, running back in to enter the shrine again. “I’M GETTIN MY SPIRIT ORB,” the little blonde screamed, waving her arms wildly. Now that she knows, she’s prepared to sock that stupid baby machine in the face!

\--

Five tries later, Lin was standing back outside, again, giggling at the fuzzy feeling in her chest. She got her spirit orb and a knight’s bow! “Mission accomplished,” she patted herself on the back and raised her chin. At least she’s having fun while on this dumb quest.

Her gaze was immediately taken by the glowing blue that emitted from the fancy bridge up ahead, bright in the darkness the rain clouds had on the day. Ignoring the lady there, Lin jumped from the cliff and paraglided down, examining the smooth stone finish of the bridge itself and the details in the two towers. The craftsman must’ve put a lot of effort into this. Lin took a quick picture with the slate, ooing as the beauty was captured. She’ll have a blast showing this off back in Hateno. Smiling, Lin turned to continue across th-

“Hey! You there!”

The little girl stopped, eyes widening at the man’s voice and looked around wildly for him. What??

“Up top! Above you!~”

Lin barely had time to look up when something _big_ and _red_ dropped down in front of her. It stood up to it’s full enormous height, making Lin’s heart drop to her stomach. It was wearing a bunch of militia stuff with a weird feather on its head. It looked...male? There was a giant shark in front of her.

He looked down at the child with confused yellow eyes before giving a grin- a really sharp toothy grin. He threw his arms out, making the girl flinch. “Why you’re not just a Hylian, you’re a hatchling! Hello little one! Why are-”

Panicking, Lin threw the Sheikah Slate as hard as she could into the talking shark’s face and turned, running as fast as she could across the bridge while screaming at the top of her lungs.


	8. Update

Hey hey hey! So, yes, this isn't a chapter update. But since it has been.....months....I felt an update in general is needed. I have fallen down a rabbit hole of other obsessions and had long forgotten about Monachopsis, so.....oops. (I've fallen head first into the Boku No Hero Academia fandom, and i could probably do a fic or something for that fandom, but idk yet) Recently, however, I'm finally finding inspiration to continue this! Chapter 8 had already been started when I lost steam, so it won't take as long as you might expect it will for me to finish the chapter. Like I did before, I'll leave this notice up until the chapter is ready! Thank you for sticking with me and hope you enjoy what I cook up next! 

\- Kit


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